Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-06
BIRD LIFE IN APRIL
Written for The Evening Star by Olive Thorne
Miller.
First the blue and then the shower.
Bursting bud and smiling flower


April is the battle-ground of the seasons
in our climate. Not so much winter I'm
/ gering In the lap Of spring" as the poet has
/ 1t, as Summer pushing forward. impatient
/ to get her buds unfolded and her flowers
out of the ground. In this month she usJl-
/ ally manages. in the words Of the immortal
Hosea, to Toss the fields fun OF blossoms.
| leaves and BIRDS her leaves half open and
her modest spring bloom ready Hepatica
| the pioneer, bloodroot lighting up the shad-
owy corners houstonia sprinkling the fields
and arbutus opening sweet eyes under last
years leaves
About the third week in the tickle month
she generally succeeds I'm giving us a fore
taste Of what We may expect when she gets
1 complete control and sets us thinking Of
mountain and seashore The bird world
shares the unrest of the season. few
| hardy warblers hurry past us. fun OF bust
ness; the myrtle with his four mystic
badges, the pine with breast OF gold and
the fascinating black-throated green, en-
route for the evergreen forests he loves so
well Two or three linger and finally stay
the modest-clad black and white the water
thrush of flirting tail and the oven bird
! masquerading as a thrush But May is
| pre-eminently the warblers' month
Now comes the leader of our summer
choir, the Calm-eyed silVer-Voiced thrush,
/ making the mornings and evenings glorious
/ for us. But his next of kin, the hermit,
steals by in silence, his emotions carefully
! repressed his music sealed up in his heart,
/ saving all his sweetness for his wooing
| ground farther north. Not chary Of his
/ charms is the smallest singer Of aII-lhe
/ klnSlet with ruby crown. A mere pinch of
| gray feathers he looks. with a gorgeous
/ crown of ruby when he expands it to sing
! he fingers for days in country neighbour
/ moods and even in city parks, and pours
! out MS joyous song for our delight. He
| IS well worth many excursions TO hear.
1 Especially other famous singers are
| about as well; the misnamed purple finch
| in all his glory of crimson and snow-white
and the aristocrat of the sparrows-the
white throat-singing as he goes a song so
distinctive that he has local name wher-
ever he is. BY the Anglo-Saxon of New
england he is unexpectedly called Pea
body bird, but by an Indian tribe of the
same section according to Mr. Long, XII
! loolet' or Little Sweet Voice"
Now begins the CHEEKY evening song of
the whippoorwill and the brown-robed
mouse wren may be seen busting about
| ready for housekeeping and looking for
summer quarters. Swallows appear with
| the first of the winged insect hosts Tho
barn the cliff and the rough-winged swal-
lows and the purple martin look over our
| premises ana choose their places. few
impatient or bold spirits begin to build.
! Some of the hawks and owls are ALREADY
settled to their summer work and now rho
! crow and cackle, and even the robin and
bluebird, open the nesting season for small
| er birds.
| confident sta
ment that certain birds will do so and so
/ ana others will do quite otherwise But
| 1t is never safe to predict what birds will
DO. Besides having marked individuality,
ana not the slaves of habit We have con-
sidered them, they are constantly chang
! ing their ways Perhaps the spirit of un-
rest Is in the air, but whatever il is that
| lmpels us Americans to move on and ever
! on, the same propensity seems TO infect
| our birds. They are always ready 10 try
new 1000 or new ways to do things. In
| the single habit of nesting several birds
| nave radically changed their Gust lrns
| within the memory of man. Swallows and
sWlfts have become almost parasftical on
| the structures of men. Formerly tenants
| OF hollow trees, caves, inches I'm rocks
and similar places, they now flock TO our
| buildings, inside and out. Barn and cave
swallows seize upon our barns, rough-wings
| choose creNlces in our public buildings
| and sWifts pre-empt our chimneys PurnIe
martins have heretofore confined their de-
pendence on us to houses built for them,
| but last spring l found a progressive col
ony comfortably settled in the heart Of a
/ noisy city, under the arch of an orna-
mental terra Gotta cap to the cornlce Of
business block. Woodpeckers too have
| learned to accept our protection and the
| shelter of our roofs AT least two species
| have adopted the labor-saving fashion of
| cutting door through our walls and as
| tablishing themselves within.
| Wrens are always making experiments
| to better themselves. They are not at all
| particular where they set up their domestic
gods. They like best a comfortable wren
! house, but will cheerfully accept an old
| hat the sleeve of a coat hanging in a
she'd niche in an empty house hole
| In post. / have a wrens nest I'm q
| hollow iron hitching post In a city street,
| the birds entering through the hole for
| the hitching strap. And | have an orioles
| pretty gray hammock that had been taken
possession of by wren, filled with a mass
of sticks in wren fashion, and used as a
nursery for pert wren babies. Nor are
wrens the only ones who appreciate a saw
ing of labor. / have another oriole cradle
in which warbler built her nest and
reared her bits of nestlings.
Perhaps the most wide-awake and quick
witted bird to avail himself of improved
conditions is the unwelcome alien-the
English or house sparrow. However we
may deplore his presence, one can deny
him the sharpness of the street gamin and
the ability to know good thing when he
sees it. Not only does he avail himself of
all the erections of for his unsghtly
nests-the inches in the ornamental parts
of our buildings our window-sills over
our doors, In our open-work trolley posts
| under our electric light caps-but he takes
advantage of the industry Of his neghbors.
He seizes the woodpeckers' laboriously ex-
cavated homes, he robs the cave swallows
of their adobe houses, he settles himself in
every wren and bluebird and martin house
he can find, never hesitating to fight for
one when he cannot get it without. lie
| even goes so far sometimes to insist on
| using the door through which a wood
! pecker enters her home between our walls,
no doubt making a separate nest inside.
Sucn eNlueHceS OF progressive IDEAS on
| the part of birds constantly coming to
| notice The interest of bird study is by
no means exhausted. There is. much to be
| found out. For what do we really know
about the life habits of even the birds we
call common? We know to a fraction the
size of the eggs, the length of every
feather and the smallest detail of anatomy
because IL is easy enough to study dead
birds But who shall tell us Of the life?
Who has time and patience and under
standing and insight to enter into their
little lives to interpret their actions and to
understand their emotions2 Who even
shall present the bare facts while Sternly
depressing his own imagination. Truly this
shall require a more profund student than
has yet arisen. He who would accomplish
this would give his days and nights TO IT.
Evidences of a deeper life than we have
given them credit for are constantly APP
pearing to those who become really inti-
mate with individuals Higginson in mis-
delightful Outdoor Paper SAYS: The
daily existence Of every bird is a remote
and bewitching mystery" If it has in