The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-01
"THE BIRD AS A LOVER"
Various Forms of WOOing-Changes
in PIumage.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller gave the first
of Lenten series of bird Talks" at the
Waldorf yesterday morning. Mrs. Miller
is the well known writer and lecturer
on birds, and has devoted years Of study
to their habits and characteristics. The
present series is on 1.-The Life Of the
Bird" describing fully the different pc
RODS in its existence. Yesterdays talk had
its special topic. 1.-The Bird as a Lover"
Mrs. Miller said that birds were as diff
ferent from each other in their methods
of courtship as were human beings; she
even inclined to believe that they ex-
hibited little more variety than the
latter did. AS a means OF partly ilustra-
ting her descriptions, she had mounted
specimens of pairs of birds belonging to
different species.
IAN birds court in the spring" said
the speaker, although It has been dis
covered by recent Investigations that the
majority of them keep the same mates
for life. Nevertheless, when that season
comes around each year the male bird
goes through the same demonstrations
and makes every effort to charm his
There are many distinct methods of
courtship peculiar to the various kinds
of birds. Most of the commoner species
WOO by means of music many having a
special song, low and very sweet, which
they never use on any other occasion.
1nen bIleTe are OIner varieties IN which
the male bird takes on a gorgeous plu-
mage at the courtingtime, which, how
ever is only worn during that period and
then discarded for the rest of the year "
AS a striking instance of this Mrs. Mil
Ter mentioned the scarlet tanager. "Imme-
diately after he has settled down with his
mate, the brilliant red color is replaced by
a sober suit of olive-green, which causes
him to resemble almost exactly his quiet
little wife. Tho bobOlink when seen here
in the north, is wearing mis- counting
of black. white and buff but when he
starts from the south in the spring he is
of a duh, reddish-brown The peculiar
thing about the way in which ne changes
color is that the feathers do not drop out
giving place to new ones, but are worn off
at the ends, showing the entirely different
shades at the roots"
In peaking of the aigrettes so much
worn on women's hats, Mrs. Miller told
ceedingly destructive. She said that they
could be found on the birds only at the
time of counting, and that male and fe-
male wore them alike. AS a consequence,
the men who are in search of them shoot
both birds thereby destroying not only the
heads of the family, but condemning the
helpless nestlings to die of starvation.
third method of wooing, said Mrs.
Miller, was that of the chase. In this, Au-
dubon declared that the female bird,
though she had many admirers, always
decided herself which one she preferred
Still another device of the male to attract
the attention of his sweetheart was to
make a sort of athletic display of his
powers of flying and spreading his wings.
This was especially noticeable in the
marshhawBs and tiny humming- birds
There are many vcissitudes and uncer-
tainties in birds courtships, said Mrs.
Miller, Just as there are in those of high
or orders -