The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-20
THE BIRDS PARADISE.
FIRST THAWING DAY GREETED
 AND REMEMBERED.
The Song of n Sparrow Drew q Crowd About It--A wOOdpecker's Experi- ence-The screamer's Love Song Irimh4n nf 4Lo c.,Ln.. nohin

ary brngs to almost all birds hint of the spring, which they are quick to make the most of, and though days and weeks of cold and blizzards some times follow, they never seem to forget the first excitement; winter has lost its grip, and the end is in sight. Hard ly had the first icicle begun to drip upon the snow when a wild song spar row in the Geological Park flew into a bush and sang Justify, and for a half hour he did his little est to helpb the thaw along. If the melody had had the same effect on the icicle which it did on the hearts of the people within hearing, the slender splinter, of ice would speedily have been dissolved into the ultimate liquid.
 It was interesting to see the class of people who were attracted by the song. of the little bird. After one or two had gathered, several workmen stopped, as one said, Ito see what was wrong" but in this case everything happened to be right They fingered, however, when once their attention was directed to the bird, and the pleasure held them for some time in silence. They appeared to enjoy thoroughly what ordinarily they would have passed by with deaf ear,
 In a large outside cage where robins, catbirds and others have lived well and Happily throughout the winter, a hairy woodpecker suddenly woke up to the fact that hint of spring was in the air. A thin sapling had been dashed to the central, hollow, steel post which supported the great dome of wire, and once, when tapping the trunk of the young tree, it's bill struck the metal just beyond. The hollow metallic clang which it gave out, nearly fright ene1 the bird to death. With loud cries it flew from side to side But when nothing more happened, it gained courage and tried it again, and in a few days it had fathomed all the won derful possibilities of this splendid sounding board.
 Reared from the nest, the woodpeck- CT had had no actual experience with resonant wood, but the suns rays and the melting snow aroused new feel ing on this February day-one which demanded expression, and suddenly there rong out through the air loud metallic roll. Louder and louder it was repeated, until the reverberations could be heard half a hundred yards away. The spring calling had come early to the bird and unfalteringly it n1N NY-4 Il. the bird soon found that it could very the quality of its music by ascending or descending the sappling. Down near the snow the tone was deeper, more untitled, while, at the top, the timber was of beautifully clear, bell-like quality By listening alone, one could tell exactly the tltitude at which the ird was perched
 In an adjoining cage, two rosy cock atoes rolled and tumbled upon the snow, or held pieces of it In their slaws and daintily nibbled at the strange substance. All winter they had been outdoors and not once had they shiv- cred or ooked cold, good food and shell ter from the wind making them as comfortable as if their tropical home.
 The rays of the sun penetrated the glass roof of the great bird house, and carried the message of the approaching end of winter to all the inmates. The steam heat had held steady through all the late fall and winter, but now, at the gentle warmth from overhead, a new feeling pervaded every cage-a feeling which no furnace could ever call forth. The fighting snipe danced and darted about, with serious looking down-held beaks, limiting of fierce en- counters later, though as yet not a trace of their battle-shield of feathers had made it's appearance. Their feints and thrusts were all mock encounters, as yet.
 A great clumsy dove from Curacao patiently followed a tiny inca dove about all day, in this first thaw-t time, ever lowing deeply and cooing without ceasing. Now and then he offered her a stick as token of his intentions, He had no mate, and the coy little creature had won his affections. The lady preferred, however, one of her own species, who was an arrant cow ard, and ran or flew at the least hint of the approach of his big rival One could not approach the large cages of the doves without being reminded of the season when the 'voice of the tur- tie Is heard In the land"
 The shama thrushes had been tuning up for weeks, and were now at their best, pouring forth bubles and trills of iquid yet subdued melody-in puerfeet taste, as are all the doings and appear ances of this noble family of birds. Strange it is how many different chords are aroused by the early warmth of the year. From a distant cage comes a series of the most ear piercing, rasping shrieks, one after an- other, like slow saving against a nail, or the harmony of an upright pencil on a slate. Yet the author is moved by the same spirit which inspires the sha- ma or the mocking-bird. It is the se- riema-a leftover from past ages, but with several orders of them. Is his voice, too, an echo of the past? If so, let us be thankful that the age of screamers is giving place to an epoch of songsters.
 Even the love song of the screamer is preferable ito the spring energies of some of the other birds. The beautiful Cuban robins, for example, straight way choose Q demure female and set out in most terrific manner to fight for her, Beaks snap and feathers fly, and the weaker goes under at last, and has to be rescued by a keeper, to be caged elsewhere until the vernal ardor of his opponent has cooled. So wrought up is the victorious bird that he flies in rage at the hand of the man, pecking savagely and with as little