Bright Birds
Now I shall tell you something about birds; not ordinary birds, but a
special sort.
Of course, birds are not exactly animals of the kind that I have been
telling you about, as they have only two legs, instead of four. But
they have two wings, which are more useful to them than two more legs.
If they had four legs they could run fast; but with the two wings they
can fly, which is ever so much faster and better than running. And
they still have two legs with which to stand on the ground, when they
have to come down to rest or to feed.
The birds that I am going to tell you about live wild in the jungle,
and are free to build their nests where they like.
Among the birds we like best, some can _sing_, and some have _bright
feathers_. Those that sing may live near your own homes in the
country--the lark, the thrush, the nightingale, and some others. But
the birds that have bright feathers live generally in other countries.
_Most birds that have lovely voices do not have bright feathers_; and
_most birds that have lovely feathers cannot sing_.
So among animals everything is very fair and just. With us it
sometimes _seems_ different. Some children appear to have all the good
luck, and others all the bad luck. Some children can sing well, and
are also very pretty; others cannot sing at all, and are also plain to
look at. But really things are not quite so unfair; for a child who is
plain, and cannot sing, may still have _some other gift_.
Among birds, those that can sing you may have seen often enough near
your own homes in the country; so I shall now tell you about the birds
that have bright feathers.
Most birds with bright feathers live in hot countries, where it is
_sunny_ almost the whole year. In fact, it is the bright light of the
sun in those countries that gives the colors to the feathers of the
birds, which are as lovely as the colors of the rainbow.
Among the bright birds that live quite wild in the jungles of hot
countries, the most beautiful are the _flamingo_, the _parrot_, the
_cockatoo_, the _peacock_, the _golden pheasant_, the _egret_, and a
few others.
_The Flamingo_
I shall tell you first about the flamingos, as they _live together in
flocks_. They were once found in America, and only a few years ago
there were many flocks of them in Florida, but now there are very few
left in this country. They are now found in Africa and in the
countries of southern Asia; a few are found also in Europe.
This is the way the flamingos live. They choose a place in the jungle
where there is a lake or a river, and build their nests all around the
lake, or by the bank of the river. The nest is just a heap of mud
raised up from the ground, with a hollow at the top where the mother
bird lays her eggs. Sometimes many thousands of flamingos are found
together around one place, which is then called a _flamingo colony_.
[Illustration: A Flamingo Colony
Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York]
The flamingo is a very tall bird, taller than a man when standing up.
The flamingo's legs are long and thin, and the neck is also long. The
long neck and the long legs are very useful to him. He stands in the
water on his legs, which look almost like a pair of stilts; then he
bends down his long neck, dips his beak into the water, and catches a
fish or any other small creature that he can find there. And although
the fish or the small creature sees the flamingo's legs in the water,
it does not run away. Why? Because it mistakes the legs for reeds
growing in the water!
When thousands of flamingos in a colony are standing around the lake
or by the river, where they live, it is a very grand sight from a
distance. The flamingo's feathers are a bright red in color, with
white or pink at the edges; so the thousands of flamingos look like an
army of soldiers with red coats.
In former years, when soldiers sometimes wore red coats, travelers who
happened to come toward a lake in Africa would suddenly see at a
distance an army of soldiers, as they thought, standing by the lake.
What they really saw were the flamingos fishing!
But no traveler could get very near the flamingos, for they have
_sentinels_! I have told you that the wild buffaloes have sentinels to
warn them when an enemy is coming. The flamingos have the same. Their
sentinels stand here and there just outside the place where the others
are fishing; and they keep a lookout all the time. If any enemy
comes, they cry out,
"Honk! Honk! Honk!" That means, "Enemy coming! Fly away!"
And of course all the flamingos rise up in the air and fly away to a
safe place, till the enemy goes away.
To see a whole flock of flamingos flying in the sky far above one's
head is a most wonderful sight. You have seen a cloud at sunset
shining with lovely tints of red and pink and orange: well, the flock
of flamingos flying in the sky looks something like that. And they all
_keep level_ at the same great height, in _rows and ranks_, just like
an army, as there are thousands and thousands of flamingos in the
flock.
Sometimes the rows and ranks widen out for a few minutes, and fill a
large portion of the sky; then they close up again, and look like one
long banner of red floating in the sky.
And all the time they have sentinels that fly outside the rows and
ranks. They make the pattern in the sky still more beautiful.
My dear children, the more you think of these wonders of the jungle
and of the world, the more you will understand how great and wise is
God, Who made all these things.
_The Parrot_
Another bright bird that lives in the jungle in a flock is the
_parrot_. You know all about him, as you must have often seen him
caged, or chained by the leg to a stand. But he is different in his
happy home in the jungle. He lives in almost every sunny country, and
flies about in flocks.
Wild parrots also make their nests in flocks. In India there is a
deserted city called Amber. Once upon a time a great King lived there
in a lovely marble palace; and the nobles and courtiers also had
lovely marble palaces and mansions.
But one day the King said that they must all leave that city, and go
and build another city. So everybody left the city of Amber, and
to-day it still stands perfect--lovely marble palaces and mansions,
with hundreds of bushes of wild roses growing all around them.
Nobody lives there, except thousands and thousands of wild parrots,
that have made their nests upon the roofs of the palaces, in the
porticoes and balconies, and upon the tops of the marble pillars and
columns.
Just think of that lovely sight! The blue sky above, the red roses on
the ground below, and the white marble palaces between the blue sky
and the red roses; and many thousands of green parrots flitting across
the sky, and from palace to rose bush. Broad bands of red, white, and
blue, with bright flashes of green between them!
Another lovely sight is a flock of wild parrots in the jungle, going
home to roost at sunset. I once saw that sight. Their beautiful green
wings and the patches of yellow on their heads shone amidst the
gorgeous colors of the sunset. And as the parrots flew on and on, many
thousands of them, their own colors mingled with the colors of the
sunset in ever-changing bands. They flew toward the setting sun, and
passed out of sight right into the sun, as it were.
After seeing a sight like that--seeing God's lovely creatures flying
about like happy children at play--who wants to see a bird boxed up in
a cage?
_The Cockatoo_
Another bright bird which you may have seen in a cage, or chained to a
stand, is the _cockatoo_. He is a cousin of the parrot, but much
larger, and far more gorgeous. He has a beautiful _crest_ of red and
orange feathers on his head. His wings are a rosy pink in color; and
he has a long pink and white tail.
In other ways he is very much like the parrot. He lives chiefly in the
countries of southern Asia, and in the islands between Asia and
Australia.
_The Peacock_
And now I come to the most beautiful bird of all, the _peacock_. When
he spreads out his long tail, it looks just like a lady's fan, only
far lovelier than any fan made by men. In color the tail is a kind of
blue and green, with touches of gold and violet, and with "eyes"
dotted all over it in shades of many other colors.
The peacock can also close up his tail like a fan. Then the long
feathers of the tail all come together in many folds, and stand out a
yard long behind him.
The peacock is found wild in India and in countries near there, but
has now been brought into America and Europe. You may even have seen
the peacock in the parks and gardens of some cities, where he lives
quite peacefully, at least in the summer months. In the winter, of
course, he must have a warm place indoors.
The peacock is really the Papa bird, and the Mamma bird is called the
_peahen_. She has not the gorgeous tail and the lovely feathers that
he has; so she looks quite plain. You will find that _among animals
the Papas are often much prettier than the Mammas_.
That seems very strange, does it not? Among us, of course, the Mammas
are always prettier than the Papas!
But in another book I shall explain _why_ the Papas among animals are
often prettier than the Mammas.
_The Golden Pheasant_
There is another beautiful bird which has been brought to America, and
now lives here; it is the _golden pheasant_. Once upon a time he lived
only in China; but a few years ago people brought a number of golden
pheasants to America, and put them in the forests of Oregon and
Washington. So now there are many thousands of golden pheasants flying
about and making their nests there.
There are other kinds of pheasants in England and in some parts of
Europe, and these the people shoot and eat. But the golden pheasant is
much too beautiful to eat. His feathers are as lovely as the
sunset--gold and yellow and orange, with blue and deep crimson; and
all these colors are laid out on his feathers in such a beautiful
pattern that to look at him you would think you were dreaming, and not
looking at a real bird.
Man, who toils with his hands, cannot make such lovely colors as those
of the birds of the air, and of the flowers in the fields, which do
not toil.
_The Snowy Egret_
And now, my dear children, I shall finish this chapter by telling you
about a beautiful bird that once lived quite wild in great numbers in
the United States. This bird has lovely soft feathers, which are pure
white; so it is called the _snowy egret_. The feathers are as soft as
silk. They are also long, with a gentle droop at the end.
Because these feathers are so lovely, rich women want to wear them in
their hats; and these rich women are willing to pay a great deal of
money for the egret feathers. So, for the sake of the money, hunters
go wherever these lovely birds are to be found, and catch and kill
them, and get the feathers. In fact, they have killed off so many of
these lovely birds, to get feathers for rich women's hats, that to-day
there are hardly any snowy egrets left in the United States.
Worse than that, the hunters killed the Papa and Mamma egrets just
when their babies were born, because at that time the feathers of the
snowy egrets were the softest and loveliest. And so, for each Papa and
Mamma egret which the cruel hunters killed, they left a dozen _baby
birds in their nests to starve and die_. Think of that!
Now, my dear children, I want the little girls among you to remember
this, especially the little girls who are lucky enough to have rich
Papas and Mammas. You can grow up to be beautiful, and look beautiful,
without wearing these egret feathers. There are women who try to look
beautiful, but who do not think of the pain they give to God's
innocent creatures.
So, if ever you want to wear egret feathers, think of the dozen baby
egrets who must starve and die if you are to have them.
[Illustration: Snowy Egrets
Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York]