We made several early morning excursions into the woods and fields
during the month of June, and were abundantly rewarded in many
ways--by beholding the gracious awakening of Nature in her various
forms, kissed into renewed activity by the radiance of morn; by the
sweet smelling air filled with the perfume of a multitude of opening
flowers which had drunk again the dew of heaven; by the sight of
flitting clouds across the bluest of skies, patching the green earth
with moving shadows, and sweetest of all, by the twittering, calling,
musical sounds of love and joy which came to the ear from the throats
of the feathered throng. How pleasant to lie prone on one's back on
the cool grass, and gaze upward through the shady green canopy of
boughs, watching the pretty manoeuvers, the joyous greetings, the
lively anxieties, the graceful movements, and even the sorrowful
happenings of the bird-life above us.
Listen to the variety of their tones, as manifest as the difference of
form and color. What more interesting than to observe their habits,
and discover their cosy nests with their beautiful eggs in the
green foliage? Strange that so many persons think only of making a
collection of them, robbing the nests with heartless indifference to
the suffering of the parents, to say nothing of the invasion which
they make of the undoubted rights the birds have from nature to
protection and perpetuation.
Strictly speaking, there are few birds to which the word "singing"
can properly be applied, the majority of them not having more than
two or three notes, and they with little suggestion of music in them.
Chanticleer crows, his spouse cackles or clucks, as may be suitable to
the occasion. To what ear are these noises musical? They are rather
language, and, in fact, the varying notes of every species of bird
have a significance which can alone be interpreted by its peculiar
habits. If careful note be made of the immediate conduct of the male
or female bird, as the case may be, after each call or sound, the
meaning of it becomes plain.
A hen whose chicks are scattered in search of food, upon seeing a
hawk, utters a note of warning which we have all heard, and the young
scamper to her for protection beneath her wings. When she has laid an
egg, _Cut-cut-cut-cut-ot-cut!_ announces it from the nest in the barn.
When the chicks are hatched, her _cluck, cluck, cluck_, calls them
from the nest in the wide world, and her _chick, chick, chick_,
uttered quickly, selects for them the dainty which she has found, or
teaches them what is proper for their diet. A good listener will
detect enough intonations in her voice to constitute a considerable
vocabulary, which, if imitated
[CONTINUED ON PAGE 57.]