The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-06-03
From Answers.

VA DESPISE the struggling, flut-
wv tering. quarrelsome sparrow as
w a good-for-nothing street arab;
yet the sparrow is in many respects mans
superior. Its blood temperature is con-
siderably higher than that of man, or or
any other mammal; it is far more active.
capable of much greater exertion. 1t can
do with less sleep can live where man
would starve. It's plumage is so beautltul-
~ adapted to all acquisitions that 1t acts
as a warm blanket in winter, dust coat
in summer, and In wet weather, owing to
the oil glands at the bases of the feath
ers, as a macintosh.
The same and more is true of birds as
a class. In some ways they are the high
est of all vertebrate creatures. They have,
of course, the inestimable gift of flight
which not only enables them to escape
most of the dangers to which earth-crawl-
ing creatures are subject, but also to
speed at will over the whole earth.
As architects birds far surpass all 9TH
err wild creatures. A few animals, and a
number of insects and fish, build dwell
ings for themselves and their young; but
what can compare with the dainty, bot
tle-shaped nest of the gold-crested wren,
or the carefully plastered mud dwelling
of the swallow?
The Indian tailor bird goes further still.
It does what man cannot do--it sews
without needle or hands Using its beak,
1t sews together leaves of trees with liv-
ing fbers of other plants, forming
cone, which 1t lines with very soft ma
terial.
Birds are possessed Of enormous muscu-
lar 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
weighed no less than forty-two pounds.
How many men could even stagger along
the ground carrying three times their own
weight In their hands?
The kick OF an ostrich is a fearsome
thing 1t will break a mans thigh. or even
the leg of a horse. The ostrich, too, is, for
a short distance, the swiftest runner Of
any creature. The top speed of a horse is
about 80 miles an hour. An ostrich it is
estimated, can run for the first half mile
at about AZ miles an hour.
The speed of birds in the air Is a mir
acle 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 14o1a
miles, and then released. 1t was home
again within one hour and eight minutes.
Its speed was. therefore. 1881 miles an
hour.
More than equally marvellous is the way
in which migrating birds of all kinds find
their way In sunshine and darkness
through uncounted miles of the high at
mosphere, arriving year by year with
most absolute accuracy at their distant
destinations. Young cuckoos leave Eng
land after their parents, and find their
way unaided to Africa. How do they
do 1t?
Birds are weatherwise beyond all crea-
lures. Swans and other water birds seem
to have some sixth sense which tells them
when wet season is coming. Before such
a time they build their nests higher than
usual above the water line, so that II
flood comes the nest and eggs will not
be washed away. The peacock knows over
night what the weather will be. His
harsh scream before he goes to roost is
a certain sign of rain before morning.
Some migrating birds have the curious
faculty of avoiding places infected by pes
thence Swallows, for instance, will never
build where plague, cholera or yellow
fever are raging. st. Augustine long ago
noticed this. and exhofted his followers to