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<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</SPAN></span></p>
<h1>BIRDS AND ALL NATURE.</h1>
<p class="ac" style="margin-bottom:2em;"><span class="smaller">ILLUSTRATED BY</span>
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY.</p>
<div class="vlouter">
<div class="volumeline">
<div class="volumeleft"><span class="sc">Vol. IV.</span></div>
<div class="volumeright"><span class="sc">No. 3.</span></div>
<div class="ac">SEPTEMBER, 1898.</div>
</div></div>
<h2 style="margin-top:2em;">CONTENTS.</h2>
<table class="toctable" id="TOC" summary="CONTENTS">
<tr>
<td class="c1"> </td>
<td class="c2">Page</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#SOME_ANIMAL_PROPENSITIES">SOME ANIMAL PROPENSITIES.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">81</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_PETRIFIED_FERN">THE PETRIFIED FERN.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">83</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#WATER_AND_ANIMALS">WATER AND ANIMALS.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">84</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_HERRING_GULL">THE HERRING GULL.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">87</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#USEFUL_BIRDS_OF_PREY">USEFUL BIRDS OF PREY.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">88</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_RACCOON">THE RACCOON.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">91</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#WILD_BIRDS_IN_LONDON">WILD BIRDS IN LONDON.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">92</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_PIGMY_ANTELOPE">THE PIGMY ANTELOPE.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">95</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#BIRDS_OF_ALASKA">BIRDS OF ALASKA.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">95</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_RED-SHOULDERED_HAWK">THE RED-SHOULDERED HAWK.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">96</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_DOVES_OF_VENICE">THE DOVES OF VENICE.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#BUTTERFLIES">BUTTERFLIES.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">102</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_FOX">THE FOX.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">105</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_GRAY_FOX">THE GRAY FOX.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">106</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#MISCELLANY">MISCELLANY.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">109</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_GRAY_SQUIRREL">THE GRAY SQUIRREL.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">110</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#AH_ME">AH ME!</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">113</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_PECTORAL_SANDPIPER">THE PECTORAL SANDPIPER.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">114</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#EYES">EYES.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">117</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#THE_HUNTED_SQUIRREL">THE HUNTED SQUIRREL.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">119</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="c1"><SPAN href="#SUMMARY">SUMMARY.</SPAN></td>
<td class="c2">120</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class="chap" /></div>
<h2><SPAN name="SOME_ANIMAL_PROPENSITIES" id="SOME_ANIMAL_PROPENSITIES"></SPAN> SOME ANIMAL PROPENSITIES.</h2>
<div>
<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_i.jpg" width-obs="59" height-obs="125" alt="" /></div>
<p class="drop-cap">IT is not quite agreeable to contemplate
many of the shortcomings,
from a moral point of
view, of certain of the animal
creation, and even less to be
compelled to recognize the necessity
of them. Thievery in nature is widely
extended, and food is the excuse for it.
Civilization has made the practice of
the humanities possible among men,
but the lower animals will doubtless
remain, as they have ever been, wholly
subject to the instincts with which
nature originally endowed them.</p>
<p>Huber relates an anecdote of some
Hive-bees paying a visit to a nest of
Bumble-bees, placed in a box not far
from their hive, in order to steal or
beg the honey. The Hive-bees, after
pillaging, had taken almost entire
possession of the nest. Some Bumble-bees,
which remained, went out to
collect provisions, and bringing home
the surplus after they had supplied
their own immediate wants, the Hive-bees
followed them and did not quit
them until they had obtained the
fruit of their labors. They licked
them, presented to them their probosces,
surrounded them, and thus at
last persuaded them to part with the
contents of their "honey-bags." The
Bumble-bees did not seem to harm or
sting them, hence it would seem to
have been persuasion rather than force
that produced this instance of self-denial.
But it was systematic robbery,
and was persisted in until the Wasps
were attracted by the same cause,
when the Bumble-bees entirely forsook
the nest.</p>
<p>Birds, notwithstanding their attractiveness
in plumage and sweetness
in song, are many of them great
thieves. They are neither fair nor
generous towards each other. When
nest-building they will steal the
feathers out of the nests of other birds,
and frequently drive off other birds
from a feeding ground even when there
is abundance. This is especially true
of the Robin, who will peck and run
after and drive away birds much larger
than himself. In this respect the
Robin and Sparrow resemble each
other. Both will drive away a Blackbird
and carry away the worm it has
made great efforts to extract from the
soil.</p>
<p>Readers of Frank Buckland's delightful
books will remember his pet Rat,
which not infrequently terrified his
visitors at breakfast. He had made
a house for the pet just by the
side of the mantel-piece, and this was
approached by a kind of ladder, up
which the Rat had to climb when he
had ventured down to the floor. Some
kinds of fish the Rat particularly liked,
and was sure to come out if the savor
was strong. One day Mr. Buckland
turned his back to give the Rat a
chance of seizing the coveted morsel,
which he was not long in doing and in
running up the ladder with it; but he
had fixed it by the middle of the back,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</SPAN></span>
and the door of the entrance was too
narrow to admit of its being drawn in
thus. But the Rat was equal to the
emergency. In a moment he bethought
himself, laid the fish on the
small platform before the door, and
then entering his house he put out his
mouth, took the fish by the nose and
thus pulled it in and made a meal of it.</p>
<p>One of the most remarkable instances
of carrying on a career of theft came
under our own observation, says a
writer in <i>Cassell's Magazine</i>. A friend
in northeast Essex had a very fine
Aberdeenshire Terrier, a female, and a
very affectionate relationship sprang
up between this Dog and a Tom cat.
The Cat followed the Dog with the
utmost fondness, purring and running
against it, and would come and call at
the door for the Dog to come out.
Attention was first drawn to the pair
by this circumstance. One evening
we were visiting our friend and heard
the Cat about the door calling, and
some one said to our friend that the
cat was noisy. "He wants little Dell,"
said he—that being the Dog's name;
we looked incredulous. "Well, you
shall see," said he, and opening the
door he let the Terrier out. At once
the Cat bounded toward her, fawned
round her, and then, followed by the
Dog, ran about the lawn. But a
change came. Some kittens were
brought to the house, and the Terrier
got much attached to them and they
to her. The Tom cat became neglected,
and soon appeared to feel it. By and
by, to the surprise of every one, the
Tom somehow managed to get, and to
establish in the hedge of the garden,
two kittens, fiery, spitting little things,
and carried on no end of depredation
on their account. Chickens went; the
fur and remains of little Rabbits were
often found round the nest, and pieces
of meat disappeared from kitchen and
larder. This went on for some time,
when suddenly the Cat disappeared—had
been shot in a wood near by, by a
game-keeper, when hunting to provide
for these wild kittens, which were
allowed to live in the hedge, as they
kept down the Mice in the garden.
This may be said to be a case of
animal thieving for a loftier purpose
than generally obtains, mere demand
for food and other necessity.</p>
<p>That nature goes her own way is
illustrated by these anecdotes of birds
and animals, and by many others even
more strange and convincing. The
struggle for existence, like the brook,
goes on forever, and the survival, if
not of the fittest, at least of the
strongest, must continue to be the rule
of life, so long as the economical
problems of existence remain unsolved.
Man and beast must be fed.
"Manna," to some extent, will always
be provided by generous humanitarianism.
There will always be John
Howards. Occasionally a disinterested,
self-abnegating soul like that of John
Woolman will appear among us—doing
good from love; and, it may be,
men like Jonathan Chapman—Johnny
Appleseed, he was called from his
habit of planting apple seeds whereever
he went, as he distributed tracts
among the frontier settlers in the early
days of western history. He would
not harm even a Snake. His heart
was right, though his judgment was
little better than that of many modern
sentimentalists who cannot apparently
distinguish the innocuous from the
venemous.</p>
<p>It does seem that birds and animals
are warranted in committing every
act of vandalism that they are
accused of. They are unquestionably
entitled by every natural right to
everything of which they take
possession. The farmer has no moral
right to deny them a share in the product
of his fields and orchards; the
gardener is their debtor (at least of the
birds), and the government, which
benefits also from their industry, should
give them its protection.—C. C. M.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</SPAN></span></p>
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