Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1906-08-02
Birds Advantage Over Man.

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ing. quarrelsome sparrows as good
for-nothing street arab yet the spar
row is in many respects mans supe-
rior. It's blood temperature is con-
siderably higher than that Of man, or
of any other mammal; it is far more
active, capable of much greater exer.
ton. 1t can do with less sleep, can
live where man would starve. Its
plumage is 80 beautifully adapted to
all acquisitions that it acts as warm
blanket in winter, dust coat in sum.
mer, and in wet weather, owing to the
oil glands at the bases of the feathers,
as a macintosh.
The same and more is true of birds
as class, says London Answers. In
some ways they are the highest of all
vertebrate creatures. They have, of
course, the inestimable gift Of fight,
which not only enables them to escape
most of the dangers to which earth
crawling creatures are subject, but
also to speed at will all over the
whole earth.
As architects birds far surpass all
other wild creatures. A few animals,
and number ofinsects and fish, build
dwellings for themselves and their
young, but what can compare with
the dainty, bottle-shaped nest of the
long-tailed tit, the swinging home of
the gold.crested wren, or the carefully
plastered mud dwelling of the swal-
low?
The Indian tailor bird goes further
still 1t does what man cannot do
| it sews without needle or hands. U.s.
ing it's beak, it sews together leaves
of trees with living fbres of other
plants, forming cone. which it lines
with very soft material.
Birds are possessed of enormous
muscular power, far exceeding in some
cases that of any other warm-blooded
creature. There is an instance on
record of an eagle, weighing no more
than fourteen pounds, lifting and
carrying off young pig which weigh
ed no less than forty-two pounds
How many men could even stagger
along the ground carrying three times
their own weight in their hands2
The kick of an ostrich is fearsome
thing. 1t will break a maD's thigh,
or even the leg OF a horse. The os-
trich, too, is for short distance the
swiftest runner of any creature. The
top speed of horse is about thirty.
FIVE miles an hour. An ostrich, it is
estimated, can run for the first half
mile at about forty.seven miles an
hour.
The speed of birds in the air is a
miracle which man rarely takes the
trouble to consider. A swallow which
had nest in the gable of the railway
station at Antwerp was taken thence
and sent to Compiegne, in France, a
distance of 140A miles, and then re-
leased. 1t was home again within
one hour and eight minntes. Its
speed was therefore 1881 miles an
hour.
More than equally marvellous is the
way in which migrating birds Of all
kinds find the way in sunshine and
darkness through uncounted miles Of
the high atmosphere, arriving year by
year with most absolute accuracy at
their distant destinations. Young
birds leave England after their pa
rents and find their way unaided to
Africa. How do they do it?
Birds are weatherwise beyond other
creatures. Swans and other water
birds seem to have some sixth sense
which tells them when a wet season is
coming. Before such a time they
build their nests higher than usual
above the waterline, so that if flood
comes the nest and eggs will not be
washed away. The peacock knows
overnight what the weather will be.
His harsh screams before he goes to
roost is a certain sign OF rain before
morning.
Some migrating birds have the Gu
rious faculty of avoiding places in
fected by pestilence. Swallows, for
instance, will not build where plague
cholera or yellow fever is raving. St.
Augustine long ago noticed this, and
exhorted his followers: "Shun wick
edness as swallows shun pestilent
places"
We speak of dainty persons having
"no more appetite than bird" No
less appropriate phrase could be used.
The bird tribe have, one and all, enor.
nous sppetites. A heron weighing