Animals ebooks

CHAPTER 1

SPRING JOURNEY

WATCHING birds, and studying and interpreting their lively ways is, or should be, a round the year hobby, for there is no time when there is not something of interest to see in the world of birds. But there is no doubt that when the year is at the spring, then is the time when most is to be seen, for then events crowd fast, one upon the other, with much coming and going, pairing, nesting, and rearing of families, and all the emotional intensity and physical outlay of the breeding phase of birds. We may therefore with reason decide to start our study of a bird's year at the advent of spring, and to this end let us begin our observations on birds with the return of the summer migrants, and see what we can gain from days spent in the fields, or by the sea-shore armed with nothing but binoculars, note-book and most important of all, an inquiring mind.

In the spring, about the middle of April, we go out of doors and find that the woods and fields are becoming populated, in ever increasing numbers, by birds which were not present during the winter. Most probably it is their songs which first attract our attention ; willow-warblers, chiff-chaffs, cuckoos, and many more are all back and proclaiming to everyone that there they are. They have come northwards for over 2000 miles to breed in the same area in which they were born in some previous spring. How this migratory urge came into being has long been a source of

INTRODUCTION

I write these few introductory sentences to this volume only to second so worthy an attempt to quicken and enlarge the general interest in our birds. The ebook itself is merely an introduction, and is only designed to place a few clews in the reader's hands which he himself or herself is to follow up. I can say that it is reliable and is written in a vivacious strain and by a real bird lover, and should prove a help and a stimulus to any one who seeks by the aid of its pages to become better acquainted with our songsters. The various grouping of the birds according to color, season, habitat, etc., ought to render the identification of the birds, with no other weapon than an opera glass, an easy matter.

When I began the study of the birds I had access to a copy of Audubon, which greatly stimulated my interest in the pursuit, but I did not have the opera glass, and I could not take Audubon with me on my walks, as the reader may this volume.

But you do not want to make out your bird the first time; the ebook or your friend must not make the problem too easy for you. You must go again and again, and see and hear your bird under varying conditions and get a good hold of several of its characteristic traits. Things easily learned are apt to be easily forgotten. Some ladies, beginning the study of birds, once wrote to me, asking if I would not please come and help them, and set them right about certain birds in dispute. I replied

Table Of Contents:

• AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
• EDITOR'S NOTE.
• Order PASSERES. Family CORVIDAE. Subfamily CORVINAE.
• 1. Corvus corax, Linn. The Raven.
• 3. Corvus corone, Linn. The Carrion-Crow.
• 4. Corvus macrorhynchus, Wagler. The Jungle-Crow.
• 7. Corvus splendens, Vieill. The Indian House-Crow.
• 8. Corvus insolens, Hume. The Burmese House-Crow.
• 9. Corvus monedula, Linn. The Jackdaw.
• 10. Pica rustica (Scop.). The Magpie.
• 12. Urocissa occipitalis (Bl.). The Red-billed Blue Magpie.
• 13. Urocissa flavirostris (Bl.). The Yellow-billed Blue Magpie.
• 14. Cissa chinensis (Bodd.). The Green Magpie.
• 15. Cissa ornata (Wagler). The Ceylonese Magpie.
• 16. Dendrocitta rufa (Scop.). The Indian Tree-pie.
• 17. Dendrocitta leucogastra, Gould. The Southern Tree-pie.
• 18. Dendrocitta himalayensis, Bl. The Himalayan Tree-pie.
• 21. Crypsirhina varians (Lath.). The Black Racket-tailed Magpie.
• 23. Platysmurus leucopterus (Temm.). The White-winged Jay.
• 24. Garrulus lanceolatus, Vigors. The Black-throated Jay.
• 25. Garrulus leucotis, Hume. The Burmese Jay.
• 26. Garrulus bispecularis, Vigors. The Himalayan Jay.
• 27. Nucifraga hemispila, Vigors. The Himalayan Nutcracker.
• 29. Graculus eremita (Linn.). The Red-billed Chough.
• Subfamily PARINAE.
• 31.

INTRODUCTION.

It is seldom that I find a ebook so far above children that I cannot share its best thought with them. So when I first took up one of John Burroughs's essays, I at once foresaw many a ramble with my pupils through the enchanted country that is found within its breezy pages. To read John Burroughs is to live in the woods and fields, and to associate intimately with all their little timid inhabitants; to discover that.

"God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear, To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here."

When I came to use Pepacton in my class of the sixth grade, I soon found, not only that the children read better but that they came rapidly to a better appreciation of the finer bits of literature in their regular readers, while their interest in their new author grew quickly to an enthusiasm. Never was a little brother or sister more real to them than was "Peggy Mel" as she rushed into the hive laden with stolen honey, while her neighbors gossiped about it, or the stately elm that played sly tricks, or the log which proved to be a good bedfellow because it did not grumble. Burroughs's way of investing beasts, birds, insects, and inanimate things with human motives is very pleasing to children. They like to trace analogies between the human and the irrational, to think of a weed as a tramp stealing rides, of Nature as a tell-tale when taken by surprise.

The quiet enthusiasm

Table of Contents

PREFACE
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE
EXOTIC BIRDS FOR BRITAIN
MOOR−HENS IN HYDE PARK
THE EAGLE AND THE CANARY
CHANTICLEER
IN AN OLD GARDEN
BIRDS IN A CORNISH VILLAGE
ITAKING STOCK OF THE BIRDS
IIDO STARLINGS PAIR FOR LIFE?
IIIVILLAGE BIRDS IN WINTER
IVINCREASING BIRDS IN BRITAIN
VTHE DAW SENTIMENT
VISTORY OF A JACKDAW

PREFACE

This ebook is more than a mere reprint of Birds in a Village first published in 1893. That was my first ebook about bird life, with some impressions of rural scenes, in England; and, as is often the case with a first ebook, its author has continued to cherish a certain affection for it. On this account it pleased me when its turn came to be reissued, since this gave me the opportunity of mending some faults in the portions retained and of throwing out a good deal of matter which appeared to me not worth keeping.

The first portion, "Birds in a Village," has been mostly rewritten with some fresh matter added, mainly later observations and incidents introduced in illustration of the various subjects discussed. For the concluding portion of the old ebook, which has been discarded, I have substituted entirely new matter-the part entitled "Birds in a Cornish Village."

Between these two long parts there are five shorter essays which I have retained with little alteration,

FOREWORD

The preservation of animal and plant life, and of the general beauty of Nature, is one of the foremost duties of the men and women of to-day. It is an imperative duty, because it must be performed at once, for otherwise it will be too late. Every possible means of preservation,-sentimental, educational and legislative,-must be employed.

The present warning issues with no uncertain sound, because this great battle for preservation and conservation cannot be won by gentle tones, nor by appeals to the aesthetic instincts of those who have no sense of beauty, or enjoyment of Nature. It is necessary to sound a loud alarm, to present the facts in very strong language, backed up by irrefutable statistics and by photographs which tell no lies, to establish the law and enforce it if needs be with a bludgeon.

This ebook is such an alarm call. Its forceful pages remind me of the sounding of the great bells in the watch-towers of the cities of the Middle Ages which called the citizens to arms to protect their homes, their liberties and their happiness. It is undeniable that the welfare and happiness of our own and of all future generations of Americans are at stake in this battle for the preservation of Nature against the selfishness, the ignorance, or the cruelty of her destroyers.

We no longer destroy great works of art. They are treasured, and regarded as of priceless value; but we have yet to attain the... Click here to read the full description!

"Who Else Wants To Move Forward Through The Grief of Pet Loss... Rather Than Sitting And Crying Helplessly?"

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You'll find glimmers of hope when you learn:

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"How To Double Your Ferret's Lifespan... End All Biting, Stinking, And Pooping Problems... And Make Your Ferret The Happiest Pet In The World!"

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I'll Also Let You In On Secrets Like...

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• True or false: the cage you have now is too small. (How much

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Tumbling Off His Horse While Riding And Unable To Get Back Up...His Horse Stood By Him And Neighed For Help Like A 911 Emergency Call!

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• The amazing secret of getting your horse understanding exactly what you want him to do! (Shows you step-by-step while others blow it and practically ruin their horse!)
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• The #1 mistake most people make breaking horses and how to avoid it!
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