The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's Year — John Shaqi
The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's YearBeebe, William
History
The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's Year
Beebe, William
Natural history -- Outdoor books
These April days we are sure to see flocks of myrtle, or yellow-rumped
warblers, and yellow palm warblers in their olive-green coats and chestnut
caps. The black-and-white creeper will always show himself true to his
name--a creeping bundle of black and white streaks. When we hear of the
parula warbler or of the Cape May warbler we get no idea of the appearance
of the bird, but when we know that the black-throated green warblers begin
to appear in April, the first good view of one of this species will
proclaim him as such.
We have marked the fox sparrow as being a great scratcher among dead
leaves. His habit is continued in the spring by the towhee, or chewink,
who uses the same methods, throwing both feet backward simultaneously. The
ordinary call note of this bird is a good example of how difficult it is
to translate bird songs into human words. Listen to the quick, double note
coming from the underbrush. Now he says "_towhee'!_" the next time
"_chewink'!_" You may change about at will, and the notes will always
correspond. Whatever is in our mind at the instant, that will seem to be
what the bird says. This should warn us of the danger of reading our
thoughts and theories too much into the minds and actions of birds. Their
mental processes, in many ways, correspond to ours. When a bird expresses
fear, hate, bravery, pain or pleasure, we can sympathise thoroughly with
it, but in studying their more complex actions we should endeavour to
exclude the thousand and one human attributes with which we are prone to
colour the bird's mental environment.
John Burroughs has rendered the song of the black-throated green warbler
in an inimitable way, as follows: "---- ----V----!" When we have once
heard the bird we will instantly recognise the aptness of these symbolic
lines. The least flycatcher, called _minimus_ by the scientists, well
deserves his name, for of all those members of his family which make their
home with us, he is the smallest. These miniature flycatchers have a way
of hunting which is all their own. They sit perched on some exposed twig
or branch, motionless until some small insect flies in sight. Then they
will launch out into the air, and, catching the insect with a snap of
their beaks, fly back to the same perch. They are garbed in subdued grays,
olives, and yellows. The least flycatcher has another name which at once
distinguishes him--chebec'. As he sits on a limb, his whole body trembles
when he jerks out these syllables, and his tail snaps as if it played some
important part in the mechanism of his vocal effort.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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