The herald., 1897-08-19
BY THE WAY


Yesterday an nirregular-shaped, crosse
visaged, sour-tempered man was hurry
ing oowD Main street to the postoffice
and as he neared the southwest corner of
Main and Fourth streets his attention
was attracted by a blackbird swoopirg z
down upon his last summers hat and
pecking at the faded ribbon, as if at
worm. The disgruntled unpoetic hater
of wild nature took the playful mood Of
the chatteribg bird as personal affrCGt
and gave vent to his cross-gra ined r.a i.
ture in curses. The byStanders who
were listening to the concert and, Looking
at the mass meeting of birds in the trees
near by. laughed at the rawlings of the
fellow as he passed Gu.
A flock of these birds. perhaps 100 in
ber, roosts in the pretty shade trees
in the yard fronting on Main street, and
early in the morning the concert begin =
it is continual twitter, twitter, twit-
ter, and flying from tree to tree, and to
the grassy lawn il search of the bug and
worm for breakfast. These acariums
and Australian pines are alive with lit
tie bugs and worms, and her.ce the
,
quarters. Occasionally there is a fight
in mid-air between these feathered twit-
terers over the possession of a choice
worm, just as in human AFFAIRS and
also, as in human affairs, the weaker is
vanqu.shed. Occasionally one of them
darts downward at passing pedestrian
and pecks him on the back of the neck,
or or the hat. or flaps his pretty wings
in the startled mans .ace, who looks
around, angrily at first, to see who
threw that rock; then laughs, and stops
to enjoy the concert. Frequently, a
dozen men are seen on the colllers listen
ing to the twittering. and waiting to sc
some other pedestrian attacked by these
pugnacious birds. Even District Tele-
graph boys have been known to stop.
When the sun begins the business CT
the day, and. after the birds have ex-
hausted' the bugs and worms and had
their fun in pecking at passing pedes-
trians, they take pasear into the coun-
try to some friendly sheep ranch A
half dozen or more select sheep, light
upon his woolly frame and proceed to
prospect for bugs and things that the
sheep may have accumulated in his
browsing around. To this burrowing
the sheep makes no objection; on the
contrary, he is thankful for the renova-
ton Some have gone to COW pastures,
ard literally cover these animals When
switched away by the animals tail they
retreat to the head and horns and there
complete their autopsy.
About sundown they return to head
quarters to roost But. before retiring
in, 40 nd, ft1nl II tvo \
little heads under their wings for the
night, there is another corcert and more
pecking at hats-ladies' hats preferred,
as it anroys them the more, and seems
to afford the birds more amusement.
During the entertainment a number of
the birds have unwittingly strung them
selves along on the telegraph wires
when, at the height Of the twittering,
one of them falls to the ground, flutter-
ing. Some one has sent hot message
over the wire and 1t has almost para
lyzed the unfortunate bird. Others rush
to his rescue, and, after considerable
bird talk, agree to bring him all the
worms he can eat until he recovers from
his sudden shock. But an unfeeling
small boy, with a rock, cultivates his
murderous instinct by killing the
wounded, fiuttering songster.
The name Of j. Fred Blake of Los An
geles is noticed among the passenger
list of the North Fork, which sailed from
San Francisco for ST. Michaels last Tues
day. Mr.. Blake has had considerable
mining experience and returned here
a couple of weeks ago from trip to
mines in Arizona in which he Is interest
ed. to Immediately catch the Klondyke
fever. Blake Is we'll known and enter
prising young Angeleno. For two years
he was The Herald's special correspond
ent at Catalina and made many friends
at the island. The Bystander hopes to
receive from Mr.. Blake good accounts Of
the Klondyke and of his own progress
and fortune.
There is a new terror for those who
lock up their houses and seek the breezes
of the summer resorts. A friend of mine
tells me he returned home the other day
to find his house in the most horrible
condition. He had locked up everything
to prevent intrusion, but had not
thought it necessary to barricade the
chimney. A pigeon had taken a tumble
down the chimney, and for three or four
days had made mess enough to cause my
friends wife almost to swear
BYSTANDER.
afn IeI to- no