The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-28
CHORISTERS OF THE SPRING
Songs Of the Birds That Come
When the Flowers Blossom.
Sweet Notes That FIJI the Genial Air
With Melody - Morning and Eve
ming TriiIsngS-The Naughty yir-
ginia Nightingale and the OrfoIe.

With Melody - Morning and Eve
ming TriiIsngs-The Naughty yir-
ginia Nightingale and the OrfoIe.
| have never had access to Audubon or
Wilson. but bird books generally, think.
only serve to quicken your interest, to
lead you to the open doorway of the
| trees" The writer's reduce the birds
| songs to syilabication. part OF magma
tion.. part of sentiment. and you cannot
| identify them by this any more than the
human voice can reproduce their Turing
calls. One. writer hears the bIuebird say.
Purity. purity" another is sure It is
Dear. dear. think OF it," The accent Is
the same and the accent is all you can
catch of the birds songs
You get but faint simuiacrum Of the
bird from pictures. Many are but photo
graphs of stuffed birds, all similar in pos
ture. and the colored plates are SO red,
green. and violet they must have been
pictured through the prisms of the imagi-
nation.
Some of the descriptions are no less
| misleading. What does ''greyish. brown
ish, olive" or ''buffy." express to your
Don't you feel mixed like the colcrs2
The cedar waxwiug is purplish cinnamon
above. greyish cinnamon below. Can you
ever expect to know him?
One is sure the towhee says "Chewink.'
and the song sparrow. Maids. put your
kettle on" and that the robins song is
monotonous: another that no bird can
excel the robin in the great variety OF his
vocal expressions" Take my advice of
this last one, and hang a drinking DISH
large enough for his bath tub as WELL
and the robin, who is a devoted splasher.
will come and you may Judge for your
self. In Cowper's Answer to ChiId-s
Question" he prettily settles this little
language of the birds:
Do you ask what the birds say7 The sparrow.
the dove
The Innet, and thrush say, 81 love and
love -
The lark is so brimful of gladness and love.
The green fields below him and blue sky above
That he sings and he sings. and forever sings he.
Il love my love, and my love loves me-"
To know the birds you must begin and
end the day with them. hear their mathis
and their vespers, which differ somewhat
To do this, you must live next door to the
world, and to an unfrequented pasture, or
woods, OF scant water sources. and thick
cts, wild-rOse and paw-paws jungles. In
such pasture as / have mentioned. iso-
lated, old and wooded, where three slopes
round to a hollow, is red-bud tree. just
above a water source. This tree has a
twin bole, wrapped and tangled in a dozen
ancient grape-vines. These form soli-
tary grove. a sweet harbor. where the
birds stop at evening the way from
feeding excursions to their places of sleep.
Here L go at shutdown, and, enveloped
in a large brown shawl, arranged far
over my face, nun-faShion, / sit on
stump near the tree, and the birds come SO
close don't need glass to study them
They do not fear anything motionless,
vested in the colors of their habitat, the
browns and greys OF the trees, as they
now appear Here. lately, long after sum
down. a red bird. shyest of strangers, al
most touched my shoulder, as he flew,
with loud whirr of his swift swings. into
the red bud tree. He hoped through the
vine tangle, in and out, flashes of red twi-
light fire, flirting his conspicuous tail
and crest, uttering a low nervous click
that never heard from him before. He
is in constant, restless dread, with his
fatal gift of beauty; / moved my foot
slightly against a dry twig. and q flash
of red twilight fire was gone in the dark
down the valley. James Lane Allen. In
his pretty description, calls him "a flame
colored prisoner in dark green chambers
Cthe heart of CEDAR. who has only 10
be seen or heard, and death adjusts an
the world, peace. peace, a melodious
sigh" The cardinal or red bird has
other name. the virginia nightingale; a
proud and naughty f. F. W
In this same sweet harbor I also saw
another shy and beautiful bird, the or
chard oriole. His length Is about seven
inches, and all black above but the Shout
ders and part of wings. which are rich
chestnut brown; the breast and below,
also this warm brown. He has white
wing. bar. and the other wing feathers
edged with black and chestnut. His tail
is round and black, edged with the brown.
Here l have also seen the charming
towhee twice, and both times accom-
panied closely by robin; both are ground
feeders, and get over their native heath,
the one with a hop, the other with a run
ming walk The towhee Is also called
ground robin. and Is evidently on good
terms with his gray cousin. The towhee
Is clad in much finer apparel. and is one
of our prettiest and most plentiful birds.
He is nearly eight inches, is all black
above but the outer tail feathers which
are white. Below he is partly white. his
sides being a beautiful bright bay. His
call note is a clear, peaiing ''tewiek.
tewiek, you cannot mistake. I see him
now every evening, in another part of
the pasture. where brambles cover an old
rail fence He comes flying low and not
when spread. While he is feeding on the
ground and making the dead leaves fly
with his scratching, he continually says
''towhee." He rises to tree to sing his
beautiful ringing song. To hear them an
swer each other in the twilight with
'tewiek. now near, now far. Is fine re-
ward for sitting cramped on a stump in
the damp, uncertain glory of an April
evening. As John Burroughs says, the
woods we know so well hold birds that we
know not at all.
L had the pleasure of holding a pair of
purple grackles in my hand the other day.
but they were Dead all because a small
boy thought they We're ''tortoIans, an
air good ter eat" He meant
the ortolan. or boboIink. which at this
time of the year is black, washed with
white. yellow patch on neck. In au-
tumn he becomes a dull brown and loses
his song and is universally killed as orto-
Ian and reed bird by boys small and boys
big. a flock of purple grackles. or crow
blackbirJis. seen in the air. squeaking
high. wheezy note. appear plain birds, all
black But they are arrayed in rides
cence. The head and neck a beautiful
ridescent blue. the back glossy, metallic
bronze, shading to purple and plum on
wing and tail. Only below and under the
wings is the color rusty brown The
ris is a bright yellow. This is the ia
Tiiiiar blackbird siiSs555;isSd of farmers.
They flock early IN September and warn
IS of the melancholy days to follow. Now
hey join the spring chorus. expressing
owe with their wheezy squeak. as truly
rs does the laverock, with his golden
totes. For the spring chorus is love- still
owe. The sweetest songbirds nestle in a
pair. and hard is the heart the loveth
taught in May, in uncertain April.-Lul-
lie Polk Taylor in the Kansas City Star.