The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1895-05-30
TIE STORY yFsF + Z q a.
Wooing, Mating, Matching and Teaching
the Yeung Birds to Fly.

tne Aeung Blrds TO Fly.
From the humming bird to the
eagle the daily existence of every
bird is q remote and bewitching
mystery. The bird is our little broth
er, and it is only during the nesting
period that we can study his domes-
tic life and keep the married couple
under close investigation. The nest
differs from our home in the fact
that 1T Is solely a nursery, for the
moment the nesting can fly the
world is his home, any comfortable
twlg Is bedroom and spray of
leaves a shelter. He lunches wher.
ever h& meets his prey and when
ever he feels hungry and thus needs
no dining room with it's accompany
ing kitchen and storeroom. In bird
life at nesting time, which is the
counting time of our bird friends,
they are in great contradistinction
to ourselves. 1t is the male that
plumes himself out in his most gor-
geous plumage, while the bride, as
a rule, wears dingy dress. But
there are fights among the birds for
their brides, often alienation of af-
lection and sometimes murder.
There are, too, in birds the spinsters
and bachelors, who look on with
cold contempt at the quarrels of the
youngsters, mango of whom to charm
or win a bride sing their sweetest
songs and dance or drum with their
wings. AS rule, the female bird
selects the site for the nest, and in
many cases she is alone the architect,
while the male bird simply aids her
with his song and brings her food.
That many birds return to the
same nesting place year after year
is undoubted. This is true of the
swallow, building its small earthen
homo under our caves, and most
particularly noticeable with the
rocks, who are most conservative.
An authentic story is told of a fami-
ly of rocks who had for centuries
built their nests in cathedral close
in England when a pair had the rad.
ical temerity to select tree in the
neighboring barrack yard. The
whole parliament of rocks of that
colony We're called together, and
with many caws discussed the sub
ject on the cathedral green. An al
most gray headed rock took the
floor, and it was evidently decided
that the barrack tree should be look
ed upon as colony, for the birds
were allowed to build there in peace
In Matching tho brood there is
great difference among birds. TIL
ruby throated humming bird neve
comes near the nest, just carolini
away in the near vicinity. The SON.
sparrows, however, take turn ant
turn about on the nest, and this i
true about many other birds. It i
generally said that birds give up al
care of their young as soon as the,
are fiedged. This is absolutely in
correct. The parent bird gives thu
first lessons in flying as carefully a
do we in seeing our children toddlc
across the floor.
When the young bird has miscal
culated the distance from bough tt
bough and fiuttered to the ground
the parents are as solicitous over the
fall as any mother over the tumble
of her babe, and with encouraging
bird talk make the youngster jump
to some perch and not infrequently
actually carry him there. Young
birds, like young children, are Sfter
indiscreet, and the young mockine
bird is one of the most obstreperous
of f1edgelings, causing his parents an
infnity of trouble. They climb out
of their nests days before they car
fly and are an easy prey to THEN
many enemies, especially man, but
are guarded and fed to the utmost
by their parents.
In the nesting. time, especially
when the young are Matched, birds
use the strangest ways to keep al
enemy away from the home of the
brood.
There has been and is still a cru
SADIE against almost every bird by
the farmer and fruitgrower, and
their nests are ruthlessly destroyed
or robbed. If these people would
really learn that it is the bird thai
saves their crops and their orchards
by killing hundreds of thousands OF
insects that would eat up everything,
our little brothers would be far more
plentiful and crops of all sorts fan
more bundant.-Lecture by Mrs
Olive Thorne Miller. -
Mexican Courts
A Mexican girl is .e0urted by o
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