The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-31

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"They have left their nests on the leafy bough.
Their homes of delight they need not now.
And the young and the old they wander OUT
And traverse the green world all about"
THERE is widely prevalent notion
that birds have no family life; that
having fed and trained their offspring
until able to fly, the parents suddenly
lose the tender love that has governed
their conduct, turn into monsters,
and drive their young inexperienced
brood out of the nest to take care OF
themselves; in fact, that family ties
do not exist in the bird world.
Nothing could be further from the
truth, or more unjust to our little
brothers. Parental love does not end
in the cradle-it begins there, and
ties there formed are in many cases
as lasting as our own, holding the
family together, till-as with US
they are broken by the marriage and
new homes of the younger genera
ton. How much longer we are not
able to discover.
The most careless observer OF bird
life must have seen the anxiety OF
parents uponj the first attempts of
their nestlings to use their wings,
and their grief and distress over any
mishaps to them. The various de-
vices of the pair-especially the
mother-to conceal or to protect the
young, are well known. Most COM
mon of these is the one called "trail-
ing" that is pretending to be hurt
and unable to fly, and thus Turing
the enemy away in the hope of catch
ing them, till far enough from the
exposed youngster. Another way
adopted by the cuckoos, effects the
same object of drawing attention
from the helpless infant, by series
of clownish poses and antics most
curious to witness. Birds that are
stronger or holder will show fight,
flying at man or beast whom they
consider dangerous, and always aim
ing at the eyes, as many nest rob-
Der has learned to his cost. An in
teresting experience of this sort hap
pened to the late Rev. Samuel Lock
wood. in his youth, when trying to
capture nestful of young thrashers.
Both parents attacked him savagely,
and finding that of no avail, enlisted
the whole neighborhood in their SER
vice, bringing mob, about his head
that soon brought him to terms.
There were cat birds, wood thrushes,
thrashers, and even tiny MARBLES, at
least fifty in all, flying about him,
screaming in fury, and all trying to
get at his eyes, which he was obliged
to protect with the cage he had
brought, while, thoroughly ashamed
of himself, he hastily replaced the
nest and contents.
Other birds, such as the woodcock
and the whippoorwill, have still an
other means of saving their endan-
gered young-they carry them away;
the woodcock between her feet, and
the whippoorwill, it is supposed, in
her wide mouth. A touching story
of the supreme efforts of a hooking
bird mother to save her nesting
from captivity was told me by an eye
witness. AS the wouldbe captor-the
writer himself-approached the awk-
ward birding on the ground, the dis
tressed mother few down, seized
him, and carried him ten or twelve
feet into the air, and then let him go
Tor dropped him, perhaps). The
youngster few as far as he could,
but soon came to the ground, and the
enemy at once advanced to take him.
Again the mother swooped down,
caught up her baby, and gave him
another start on his way, all the time
uttering cries of the utmost distress.
A second, and even third time he
fell to the earth, was threatened with
capture, and saved by his distracted
mother. And then the relator of the
incident became ashamed of his err
rand, and gave up the chase.
Even when, as often happens, the
young leave the nest at different
times, the family does not become
scattered. In all cases that 1 have
observed the father has taken into his
special charge each Nesting as it
left the home. From the moment of
Matching he shares in the labor of
feeding, but with the departure of
the first little one it becomes his
business to attend to it. He goes no
more to the nest, but receives and
cares for each one as it makes its
exit from the nursery, until the last
one has joined the little group, when
the mother-unless she contemplates