Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-12-10
BIRDS LOVE COLORS.
THEY KEEP A COLLECTION or
vARlEeATEO CuRloSlTIeS.

Ravens. Jays and Jacldaws.
That sense of beauty to which the COR
geous plumage of the mail birds in many
species is an obvious and direct appeal is
by no means limited to the knowledge so
naively shown by resplendent husbands
and adoring wives that fire feathers make
fine birds So common and varied is the
pleasure derived from this sense that in
many kinds it extends To the conscious
search for and appliance of beautiful OBJ
iects in the decoration of nests, of pleas
ure houses and the enrichment of collec-
tions.
This taste for ornament is by 70 means
limited to birds kept in captivity, in which
they often learn tricks and habits foreign
TO their nature from ennul and idleness
In the freedom of English woods or
Papuan jungles they show the keenest
pleasure in the strange or beautiful shapes
and colors of flowers, OF feathers. of fruits,
of gay shells and insects, of woven fabrics,
of metal, glass and gems, and similar tastes
shown in captivity are often but the sur
vival and manned reproduction of their
natural love for surrounding themselves
with what pleases the eye. 1t appears in
species where it might he less expected,
and is developed 20 point at which it be
comes an artistic passion identical in mo-
tive and the means taken to CRAFTY 1t with
the same taste and its expression by civil
lied man.
II * not without reason that the Panuan.
who lives naked under a tree, calls the
gardner bird the master" which can
build not only nest, but lovely pleasure
house besides, ana adorns this with a hun
drcd beautiful objects TO CRAFTY aesthetic
wants which the savage i not yet developed
enough to feel or understand
THE SENSE OF BEAUTY.
But these tastes appear in birds which
are quite low in the scale of mental deycl-
opment, even among the hawks, which are
among the least keen witted of the birds.
The kite, for instance, has a great liking
for pretty things, or what are considered
such. In two of the rare instances in which
the kites nest has been recently found in
this country the cock bird had carried
home long, trailing spray of wood5ine in
flower and left 1t by the side Of its mate
In a kites nest found not long ago in
this country the collection" was enriched
by pieces of newspaper and leaves OF Brad
shaw's Railway Guide" and on the few eS-
tates in England where these birds are still
protected the keepers are said To be quite
aware of their mania for collecting linen
when laid ont to dry, and carrying off socks
and bright cotton handSerchcfs to the nest.
The sense of beauty naturally appears in
the rudest and most elementary form in
such uncouth robbers aS the kites In the
fE cleverer crows, ravens, magpies and
jays it is marked and hereditary passion
From the jackdaw of Rheims TO the old
raven at the Tower of London, who amaSsed
unique and valuable collection at the
bottom of one of the venerable cannon in
side the barbican, there can hardly have
existed i tame member of the tribe which
has not ut times asserted its own right 10
share III the enjoyment OF what we re-
member TO have seen described in the
pompous advertisement of a modern art
furnisher as those products of the minor
arts which contribute to the dignity and
refinement of domestic life"
They have 4 wide and catholic sense of
feeling for what may contribute to their
happiness in this way, and do not always
distinguish between what is beautiful. and
what is merely curious.
WHAT \ MAGPIE STOLE.
AT the same time they do often dlstin-
guish and keep apart what they collect or
steal for food, and their art collections,
which are hidden separately, are far more
carefully concealed. The writer has seen
this in the case of tame Jays and jackdaws,
and has known it practiced by raven and
n magpie.
The latter always hid the crusts, and es-
pecially the small squares of toast made
ready for soup, which he stole or had given
him in the kitchen, between the layers of
household linen in the drying room of
large house in Northumberland. But his
collections were buried in the straw of a
disuSed clubhouse. The loss of several small
cups and saucers out of a bright colored
-. Il. i
covery of this hoard AS the bird was seen
to enter the shed, and was there found
pulling away the straw which covered the
china
So far we have traced the development of
this sense of beauty from the kites, which
merely pick up and carry to their nests
what they consider to be pretty and inter
esGng, to the crow tribe, which have n
separate hiding place for keeping and en-
joying their treasures
The conscious search for and application
of ornament to the decorat ion of the fabric
of the nest, even ut the risk of its danger
and discovery through the qualification of
their feeling for beauty, is further and
most remarkable evidence the pleasure
which they derive from tn. sense; for one
OF the strongest impulses of the nesting
bird is to subordinate the color and texture
natural surroundings, and none but Il
strong and tempting bias to the indulgence
of a contrary instinct could compete with
| their natural solicitude for the safety of
| their young.
TWO REMARKABLE INSTANCES
| Yet two undoubted Instances of the aG-
| dition of ornament by English birds to the
! outside of a nest have come under the
| writer's notice, where it's use clearly en-
tailed some danger from the enemy. The
first was the nest of n chitf-chaff, found in
plantation near Rosamond's bower, on
| the Isis, near Godstow. 1t was II domeJ
| nest Of the usual kind, made of dry, color
| less grass, with an entrance in the side
| But on the outside and around the en-
| trance To the chamber were stuck several
| Of the brilliant blue feathers Of the king
| fisher. The position of these bright patches
| of color on the outside of the nest is strong
evidence that beauty, not utility, was the
! object of their insertion.