The sun., 1895-02-17
WONDERS OF BIRD BRAINS.
IDEAS IN FEATBERED HEADS AEIS
10 those or MEY.

down." and Take Turns at n Jig-Marvei 81
loss Pnviiious r'uiit Tor Play Houses
Artistic Sense Displayed In House Dee
orntions, and Living Lamps Fix~d In th'
wnns-A Two-rtory Nest with n Pri
watts Room for the Femaie-MnrryinF fo'
E.Irc-Co-opsration nnd Love or Travel
NoRTHwooD, n. Y. Feb. 10.-An amateur
naturalist living IT, this place Is making n col
lection Of bird sklnr, mounted In the form Of
life, and Of birds ness, which Is designed. whcr
complete, to show. M we'll as may be. the many
remarkable ways In which bird traits OF char.
actcr are akin IN tho,c vt human beings
Among these traits none Is more likely to inter
est the reader not learned In matters ornItho-
| logical than the various ways In which birds
amuse Themselves their recreatlOns so to speak.
| For bird life Is 10y no means wholly devoted Ia
house building, tho search for food. and the
rearing OF the young. For instance. In nm arti-
| Gle on Patagonia birds which appeared In THE
! Sun some time ago. mention was made OF GER
| tain birds there that have tho habit OF going
| through set performances, much like those Of
| human beings who gather to dance. Thnt habit
is not Mt all peculiar to Patagonia birds. In
deed. there are many more birds who gather to
dance outside OF Patagonia than within its des-
ert lorders.
There is one notable bird in the United States
the turkey buzzard-that Is quite n dancer,
though no musician. II one will watch flock
OF these birds fcasting say on big fish un n
beach. he will find that when they have satis-
fled their uppetites they will hop about in n
most amusing way and after n few mock fights
will soar away into the air, where they will
wheel around in the most graceful fashion by
the hour. The common notion that these birds
are on the lookout fer prey whenever they 30
toll air To Thatra thnr To of In
about for tho fun OF 1t. just wcll-fed boys and
girls must needs run ard swing their arms when
they would play rather than sit down and play
in quiet way
Another great bird that is somewhat awkward
when seen on the ground has the fashion OF
swinging itself half mile up into tile air
for pure recreation. This is the chaja of the Ar
gentine Republic. n bird that is known in the
books as tho crested screnmcr and chdttnd
churdr,in. IL has body and neck like those
of slate-bluc goose. with legs somewhat
like n turkeys only much thicker and
with longer toes. There is crest on it's
head and black collar around its neck,
and its eyes are surrounded with red skin.
On the whole it presents striking appear
ance This kind of bird sometimes gathers In
bands of hundreds and thousands about the
wild marshy places, where 1t feeds on the grass.
When hunger is satisfied the birds get upon
their wings. seemingly with prodigious effort.
beating the air till there is a sound as Of
mighty wind. and away they go, up and up. in
sweeping circles, til.they all but disappear, and
sometimes they do disappear. As they rise they
sing, or shout to each other in trumpet tones.
Curiously enough. the higher they 20 the
easier becomes their fight until they float with
ont effort This is curious, because the air is thin
and less able to support them up there, but
probably the increased speed of their motion
moro than makes up for the thinness of the air.
The voice become softer and sweeter as they |
rise, just as the sound of bugle heard from a
distance over the water is more pleasing than
when close at hand. Nor are they voicelcss or |
without amusement when ON the land At night, |
especially, they unite at intervals In tremen-
dous chorus, and where number of focks arc |
found within call of each other they take turn |
one after another in their song.
One of the most beautiful birds known to trop- |
ical America is the iacana, sort of snipe found |
along the streams all the way from Mexico to
the River Plate and in unusually great numbers
along the outlet Of Lake Nicaragua. There is
q silky sheen to the feathers, which are chiefly
green and gold and chocolate brown and there
are such shadings OF one color into another in
one place and such contrasts in another that no
better description of the birds can be given than
TO call them living bouquets.
AS the steamer goes up the Rio San Juan they
may be seen in pairs frequently, either feeding
slang sbcro or o,.;n, and ,boy NO oI..,,s ,o.,
-'o"s .'o'' -, .' .s' Gnu ',e' .'o AWAY very
attractive But II tho traveller Is lucky he may
see dozen of tho birds suddenly gather from
mp and down the river Mt some open place
and there form most curious group. Some
stand with wings held straight - In the air and
,.r,.c,,y ,,ot;o,less o,hors h.I, 80 ,h.
p.'i''' oaee'' o''''S "a,t "'eh 'ne
wings and then futter them rapidly. and still
others wave the wings slowly up and down as
,,oraies do ,yhon oo,borod l., ,,-onns s.
'u''.'hes W. "he, eathereu III groups some
stand In place while others move slowly about.
Jnt all chirp In the most excited fashion Iftbc
,,rds ,o,haroa ,,rrnos.I,. q, ,o,, 1T, ,.s
~, "' e"s"e''u pu.po'e. W snow 'he'r Deaut'-
'ul feathers TO the spectatarc they could not
ldopt Il better method but of course this "a
,pIr tbo iocon, ,,o,, -, ha,,,,,, NJ, -, g..
my 'n' '"'"h'- ""y VI ha'n's o'1 Oh run 10
'ary the monotony or looking for food and
ieepng the eggs In the nests warm,
M, s,,o,,,, -. =, ., o., ,. .
no 'f"Hso "p'Hs Vi ohe i"h-io'inS tyraEt
BIRD have given IL name: IL is called the
clssor tail 1t IL gray and white with block
lead nd tail and n vcllowish crest N ia ahont
I