Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-10-05
Birds Advantage Over Man.

We despise the struggling, futter.
ing, quarrelsOme sparrow as good
for-nothing street Arab; yet the spar
row is in many respects mans superior.
It's blood temperature is considerably
higher than that OF man, or Of any
other mammal; it is far more active,
capable of much greater exertion. It
can do with less sleep, can live where
man would starve. Its plummage is
SO beautifully adapted to all reQuisi.
tons that it acts as warm blanket
in winter, a dust coat in summer
and in wet weather, owing to the oil
glands at the bases of the feathers, as
macintosh.
The same and more is true of birds
as class. In some ways they are
the highest 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 withdrawing creatures are
subject, but also to speed at will over
the whole earth.
AS architects birds far surpass all
other wild creatures. A few animals,
and number of insects 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. Us
ing its beak it sews together leaves OF
trees with living fibers of other plants
forming a 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 rec.
ord of an eagle weighing no more
than fourteen pounds lifting and car
rying off a young pig which weighed
no less than IL pounds. How many
men could even stagger along tbs
ground carrying three times their own
! weight in their hands?
The kick of an ostrich is a fearsomt
thing. 1t will break h mans thigh
or even the leg Of a horse. The os
trich, 100, is. for a short distance the
sWiftest runner of ay creature. The
top speed of a horse is about So miles
an hour. An ostrich, it is estimated
can run the first half mile at about
II miles an hour.
The speed of birds in the air is {
miracle which man rarely takes the
trouble to consider. swallow which
had a nest in the gable Of a railway
station at Antwerp was taken thence
and sent to Compiegene. in France. 6
distance of 40 miles, and then raleas
ed. 1t was home again within one
hour and eight minutes. It's speed
therefore, was 1872 miles an hour
More than equally marvellous is the
way in which migrating birds fin
their way in sunshine and darkests
through ucouted miles of the higl
with most absolute accuracy at theil
distant destinations. Young cuckoo,
/ leave England after their parents ant
find their way unaided to Africa. How
do they do it?
Birds are weather-wise beyond 9th
er 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 the,
build their nests higher than usua
above the water line, SO that if Z
flood comes the nest will not be washed
away. The peacock knows over nigh
what the weather will be. His harsh
scream before he goes to roost is {
certain sign of rain before morning
Some migrating birds have the cur
ious faculty of avoiding places infect
ed by pestilence. Swallows, for in
stance, will never build where plague
cholera Or yellow fever is raging. st
! Augustine long ago noticed this ant
exhorted his followers: "Shun wicked
mes as swallows shun pestilent places.
We speak of dainty persons having
no more appetite than bird" No les.
appropriate phrase could be used. TIL.
bird tribe has, one and all, enormou
appetites. A heron weighing fou
pounds has, when shot, disgorged two
trout, one of two pounds and one O
News.