CIVILIZED BIRDS.
In new parts of the country we do not find so many birds living near
houses as we find in older towns. Where there is much wooded or
uncultivated land for them to live and nest in, the birds prefer to
stay at some distance from us. But after the fields are all ploughed,
and the trees cut down, they become civilized and learn to love our
gardens and barns and houses.
We speak of birds as "wild" or "civilized," just as we speak of the
races of men. The birds in our yard are civilized. They will eat
cooked food if we give it to them. They will bathe in a tub, if it is
handy, as if it were a brook in the woods. They will nest in cosey
nooks about the home in the vines and under the barn eaves, or in
little houses which we build for them and set up on poles or in the
arbors. They will follow the furrow which the plough makes, looking
for worms, and will help themselves to our fruit without waiting for
an invitation.
Many of them soon learn to prefer the barn-yard to the field, and
will hop about with the chickens under the horse's feet. The sparrows
and towhees come every day when the cow eats her pail of bran. They
gather about close to her head and watch for her to finish her meal,
very much as you have seen one dog watch another dog at his bone.
When the cow is done, the birds take possession of her pail and pick
out every crumb she has left.
The blackbird[1] is more civilized than most other birds. You are
all acquainted with him, for we find him at home almost everywhere.
Though he dresses differently in different parts of the country,
he is always a blackbird. Where we live he has a white eye, like
a tricky horse. He likes the company of sheep and cattle in our
pastures and lanes.
[1] In the west, Brewer's blackbird, _Scolecophagus cyanocephalus_;
in the east, purple grackle, _Quiscalus quiscula_.
We have seen these birds taking a free ride all over the fields,
while the good-natured animals seemed to like it and did not try to
shake them off. Once we laughed merrily when we saw a whole flock of
blackbirds taking a ride "pig back," while the pigs rooted away in
the ground, paying no attention to the birds on their backs.
Once when we were in Sitka, Alaska, a long way from home, we went out
very early to watch the birds. We saw a great black raven on the back
of a donkey that had been lying down all night on a bed of straw. The
raven pecked the donkey's back and made him get up from his warm bed.
Then the hungry bird made a breakfast of the insects that had crept
under the donkey during the cold night to share his warmth. We were
told that this raven was in the habit of getting his breakfast in
this way.
In nesting time civilized birds are glad to get the odds and ends of
strings and cotton which we give them. They chirp about it while they
pull at the twine, as if they were saying, "What a blessing it is to
live among civilized people, who give us strings and other things to
make our cradles of."
[Illustration: Crow Blackbird.]
They like to scratch in the hay and chaff for kernels of grain. When
you see the birds about the barn-doors, or under the shed at the
grain, watch them and notice that they do not really scratch, as at
first sight they seem to do, but hop quickly on both feet with their
toes spread far apart. They hop so fast that you can scarcely see
their feet through the flying chaff.
It is hard to be quite certain whether a bird walks or hops when it
is after its food on the ground. Some of them, like the sparrows and
towhees, have a quick, jerky pace that looks like a very fast run.
Some birds never run or hop on their feet. The fly-catchers and
humming-birds belong to this class. Yet these birds are not cripples.
Their tiny legs are fitted only to hold them on the perch. If they
wish to catch an insect the length of their bill away, they will fly
to get it, just as if it were across the yard. Their wings are so
strong and move so quickly that these birds do not need to walk or
run. They sip their honey or snatch flies and spiders while on the
wing.
All birds are alike in many habits, just as people all over the world
have some ways in common. Yet there are some birds who are very
different from all others. Indeed, there are so many things to know
about them, that it is difficult to know just where to begin.
What kind of clothes do birds wear? What do they eat, and when
is their meal-time, and how do they fly? How do they make their
nurseries or nests, and how do they know just how large these ought
to be? Do birds talk and laugh and play at games? What sort of a
mother does a bird make, and what do the father birds think of the
babies? Do birds have a childhood after their babyhood, and are they
allowed by their parents to grow up idle and helpless? Will our wild
birds grow tame and trustful if we love and pet them, and do they
learn to prefer such food as we eat ourselves? In short, does it pay
to cultivate the acquaintance of birds and to think of them as people?
We will talk about these things in this little book, and when we are
done, perhaps you will wonder that you did not get up earlier and
know more about the beautiful little winged people in your yard.
[Illustration]