Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-20
THE BIRDS OF THE AIR
They Are Frequently and Tenderly Spoken
Of in the Bible.
Characteristics Often the Theme for
Law Forbade killing Birds.


meeting OF the Maine Ornithological Soci-
ETY. in Brunswick.
Any writings deserve to be ranked as lit
erature, he said, which are so saturated
with truth, life, beauty. that they appeal
not to one people or age, but to many ages
and peoples and that they take hold Of the
heart of the entire race with an unchang
ing vitality of grasp. Nature touches and
teaches in ways without number. AS
birds are found wherever men can live they
must enter freely into all literature in pro-
portion to its sympathy with natural OBJ
1ects and movements. Our Bible is pre-
eminent in this sympathy; it touches all the
keys of feeling and action and draws it's
materials and illustrations from the widest
and most varied sources.
Birds are in 1t, of course. The eagle is
mentioned in more than a score of pas
sages. Its strong wings used to de-
scribe the power by which the Israelites
were brought out of Egypt. aud ultimately,
from slavery into nationality: Il bear you
on eagles wings is the beautiful state
ment of the way in which the divine inter-
position led them forth and bore them
to safety. The care of the mother eagle
for her young ard the way in which she
teaches them to fly by breaking up the
wings is graphically described illustrat-
ing Gods care for His people. A familiar
description pictures such a scene wit
messed by traveller in the great canyon Of
the Colorado, where the eagles nest was
nearly a mile above the stream below, high
up on the rocky side of the ravine. and
where the young birds were allowed to fall
a long distance before being overtaken and
borne up on the wings of the mother bird.
During his forty years experience of life
in the open air as a keeper of fiocks and
herds in rough. wild country, Moses may
many times have witnessed the occurrence
which he graphically describes.
The Eagle.
A
nation was to come against Israel from
afar "as swift the eagle f1ieth.'' LAS the
eagle that swoopeth on the prey is the
way in which the swift flight of the years
near the close of life is described in the
book of Job. In the same book is an ac-
curate picture Of the nesting habits of the
eagle and of its watching for it's prey from
a distance. We almost see the nest far
up on some rocky crag and the eagle look
ing forth with far-sighted, sharp-eyed
watchfulness. They shall mount up on
wings eagles is the description which
the clear-visoned Isaiah-the John of the
Old Testament-gives of those who renew
their strength" by life of service and of
faith. We have all known men, unhappily
too rare, whose lives have approached. in
beauty and power, the upward soaring
flight of the eagle.
Our largest crows, the ravens, appear In
the Bible in a very interesting light They
figure in the strange, dramatic story of
Elijah as Gods messengers to bring food
to the hungry prophet. Whatever mystic
ries may hang about this incident there Is
no need of doubling Its truthfuiness. The
story is too strange and wonderful. too
beautiful and significant, not to be true.
1t may. perhaps be taken as a conhrma-
ton of the narrative that such kindly men-
ton is made of the ravens in other parts
of the Scripture.
1t would be interesting to know if this
saying has any relation to the biblical
story. Within a few days l have been told
0n ha hest nf a
bereaved by the drowning Of its lone kit
ten, adopting a family of chickens and
bringing to them bits of bread and meat
from its own supply and then watching
them lovingly while they ate these gifts.
But our smaller and more familiar birds
are mentioned with equal honor. The Saith
Psalm is the song Of the sparrow and the
swallow. These birds had then the same
familiar and home-ioving character as now.
They had the same habit of nesting about
dwellings and other buildings. Even around
the temple the sparrows found crevices in
which to build their nests. How touching
the lesson of trust which the sparrows
teach in the New Testament. Are not five
sparrows sold for two farthngs, and not
one of them is forgotten before God? Fear
not, therefore; ye are of more value than
many sDarrowS.
HeIplessness of Birds.
The helplessness of storm driven migra-
tory birds, their great multitudes and the
ease with which they are taken after a
long flight across the sea, are clearly seen
in the following account: "A strong wind
brought quais from the sea and let them
fall by the camp, about days journey on
this side and about q. days journey on the
other side, and the people stood up all that
day and all the night and all the next day
and gathered the quails.' Perhaps the
havoc wrought among the hocks of wild
pigeons in the earlier days Of this country
comes the nearest to this account. but
uuails migrate in great numbers, and there
0f helnp n
by the 100000 in day. and 10000 being
netted on the little Island Of Capri, near
Naples, in a single season.
The swiftness with which rumor brings to
a king any whisper against him-so many
hope to secure favor by telling it's well
compared to the speed of a birds flight.
The picture Of the sower going forth from
the village to the remote fields to SOW the
grain and of the birds following his steps to
gather up the seed that might fall upon
the narrow paths which bordered or cross
ed the fields is intensely oriental and out
of-doorsy. How often. even in New Eng
land, have seen the robin following
closely in the furrow after the pillow to
gather up the grubs and worms that might
be uncovered.
Birds have" haunts lodging places, rest
Ing places. and not nests as in our YER
sion. presents just such a picture of some
sequestered grove or tree clump, some shell
tered hillside or brookside, where birds may
gather and rest undisturbed. The bird
haunts where great numbers gather to
spend the night for weeks at time, as the
swallows do every fall in the willows on an
| island in the Messaionskee at Waterville
come nearer to the true thought than the
word nests comes More of our birds
have the habit of gathering for rest in
| focks than might first be thought
Crows, jays, swallows. robins bluebirds
thistle finches, sparrows, juncoes, snow
| flakes and many others do this to a greater
| or less degree 1t is also true that birds
gather in favorable places for nesting and
| breeding. Familiar examples of this habit
are the chimney swifts, cave swallows sand
martins, heronries-either of the great blue
heron or Of the biack-crowned night heron
| as in Browns woods, at Falmouth Foreside
All honor to the man who keeps far away
from such a place the death-dealing sports
man.
Harming of Birds Forbidden,
The Mosaic law strictly forbade the kill
| ing of a bird that was setting upon eggs or
| young. enforcing the prohibition by the
| weighty sanction that it may be well with
| thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy
| days The life even Of a bird is sacred
The killing of the mother bird and allowing
| the young to perish in the nest is a cruelty
deserving misfortune and shortness of DAYS
Bird protection is one of the purposes
| of our society. When the psalmist exclaims
| in triumph. "Our soul is escaped as a bird