The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-04
NEWS IF TIE DAY IN SOCIETY WORLD Descendants of Pocahontas Figure In Society Magazine TO CELEBRATE BIRD DAY Informal Events of Yesterday-An In- cldent Related of Automo-
 piles - Notes and
 Personals.
TO CELEBRATE BIRD DAY
By MYRTLE MILES.

Last year the custom of celebrating Bird Day. was established in the state, the schools here and elsewhere on the appointed day holding interesting exer- cses after a comprehensive study of the little feathered people of this sec- ton.
 Today every little boy and girl In the Alabama public schools will tell Of his or her personal experience with birds. Miss Alma Rittenberry has found one bird an interesting study. She has pre- pared a story of the swallow, which Is a revelation to those who have never lived close to nature and to those familiar with -bird study is a charming exposition, ln- deed. The story follows:
 "One swallow does not make spring, nor one fine day." was enunciated by Aristotle as a fact so self-evident and well known to his hearers that it served to paraphrase his soundest propositions. This saying abas become proverbial, and is ever upon our lips, yet in its broader sense it perpetuates an error, for the nrst flight of swallows, in this country, at least, can safely be accepted as a pre- cursor of the brighter days fast nearing. Christina Rossettl in "A Bird Song" . says
 ''It's surely summer, for there's swal-
 low:
 Come one swallow, his mate will follow The bird race quicken and wheel and
 thicken.'
 So pre-eminenty are swallows crea- lures of the warmth and exuberant life of summer that the unreasonable appear ance of one is sure to call forth feelings of sympathy and regret from the ob- server.
 No birds are more closely identified with civilized life than the swallows They thrive and increase under the protec- ton of man, and at his approach adopt his habitation for the summer homes and nesting places. All the American species excepting the bank-swallows or the sand-martin have, wherever prac- ticable, abandoned their primitive breed ing sites in old hollow trees and about cliffs to seek thes safer and more con- xenIent retreats afforded by barns and outbuidings, to say nothing of the many cozy boxes, especially provided for their accommodation by kindly people-now, alas, too often appropriated by the con- temptible English sparrows. Few of the lesser birds are accorded more promi- hence in literature than the swallows, and the part taken by these light-winged sprites in modern decorative work is sec ond only to that of the ubiquitous one legged stork. Their graceful forms lend life to drowsy landscapes, ruffle with tiny circles the placid pools, battle with the rolling storm-clouds and cling in sportive groups to bending twigs, or perch in swayng lines upon the more prosaic tele- graph wires. Without the gracious gift of song, these charming creatures are endeared to us by long association, by the utter absence of objectionable or harmful qualities, and above all, as the impersonation of cheerful activity.
 What a contrast" says Dr. w. Van Fleet ito our own numbering bodies and painful, awkward mode of progression is the bouyant sweep of wonder swallow. as he lightly breasts the rising breeze or deftly curves toward some passing in- sect"
 Nearly a hundred species of swallows are recognized by naturalists. North America, exclusive of Mexico is favored with seven.
 Our common or barn swallow is very similar to the European chimney swallow,