The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1922-02-03
WHY A BIRD CLUB

| believe that a Bird club should
be organized at Oakley for the pur-
nose of Identifying and observing
the birds that make their home
here The club should be very
informal organization, with a meet
ing perhaps once every two weeks
for the sake of comparing notes
should like to hear from any
who would be interested in such a
club. Phone 20 or call at the Her
aid office.
club would stimulate the mem
bers to definiteness of observation
Perhaps few of us can identify
more than forty species Of birds,
whereas we might get acquainted
with two or three times as many
in and about Oakley. Many varie-
ties, whose presence we never sus-
pected, make their home within the
village limits. 1t may be said that
we really see many species whose
names we do not know. That may
be true, but, if so, our ideas of
such birds are likely to be hazy.
1t is safe guess that we do not
notice at all many of the birds that
come within our field of vision
And while we could practise obser-
walton without organizing a club, it
remains true that the reports of
other members would spur us on to
more determined efforts If we set
out to identify bird which has
been reported in the vicinity, we
wouldn't quit without actually find
ing it.
A Bird club would add to our in
terest in outdoor activities. Man
is normally an outdoor animal
Work or play within four walls is at
best a makeshift-a necessary evil.
But a great deal of our indoor re-
creation is an unnecessary evil.
People talk about food, water and
air as if they were important in
the order named Men who are
anxious to have good, clean food |
are not always careful about what
they drink and what they breathe /
-en who would not even dream of |
eating unclean food will drink inn (,
pure water---or even bootleg likker,
--likker made by fellows so dirty
that one would hesitate to eat a
= III l.. a
the same men who are particular
about what they eat seem to thinS
that any sort of air, or absence
thereof, is good enough for them to
breathe. To breathe air in an I'M
ventilated room may be as filthy.
in its way, as to drink water out
of a bathtub.
Those prime necessities of the
body should be named in the order
Of their respective importance-air,
water and food But fresh air is
not the only good thing that is
waiting for us out-of-doors Thor
eau has remarked how the Mallard
IASCio TIC QOhiCotAO QuCh Dtdule ! ,
and gracefulness; and he says that
he wild or Mallard thought, the
hought that comes in the out-of-
ioors, likewise excels the indoors
thought.
Observation of birds will open, or
It least intensity, a whole world of
music. Ounce for ounce, song-birds {
ire the most keenly alive creatures
IN earth. Considering the weight
# their bodies. their brains will a
compare fayorably with mans. The !
Wild birds are the original must q
ians. and still hold rank with the
highest. Their music will easily
ians-it can be reproduced as mu- y
ic on instruments of human inven-
in its effects it transcends
il human art G
Browning has remarked how so u
luch of what we try to say breaks n
through language and escapes. II
hink that these escaped meanings
urely lodge in the threats of song Ct
irds-to be returned to us. IL
/ have not heard either the Wee m
y or the Hermit thrush-the most II
lmous singers of America; but II
ave often heard the Wood thrush, e,
near relative of the two. be- lie
anne acquainted with the song OF
lie wood thrush when / was eleven W
ears of age. and at that moment it al
scame for me the one perfect ex- T
nple of the music of sound and it
)etry. In comparison with this al
ing, all the music l had heard in al
lie little village where | lived be-
me as noise, and all the poetry ! pc
id read became as grunts and hic- ca
'ugbs Four years later came Ike