Show I 1 ds barm li licile tilo ari iriona ands iffe ireae ih ahe fyd sin m UT jong onas and eai the ilie 15 ahai ewie agi pG i ilc cf 1 I birds are among mans most mosi practical friends for they destroy harmful insects and the seed of ugly and poisonous weeds let us acknowledged acknowledge this friendship by arranging to have the school children observe bird day this year in connection with their arbor day exercises we need trees and birds and everyone ought to under stand their value and encourage their propagation j my by EDWARD B olans PRING brings our bird friends EI r bade back from the south not all of 1 them however deserted us when the winds began to blow cold and the he cloude clouda to shake out their first burden en of snow A few of our feathered friends stay in the north country the whole hole winter through they are the Fl tardier ardler ones of their tribe stay at iome and traveler alike are becoming more r e and more beloved of our people ro aa t time me g goes on there are certain ones among our feathered ea neighbors which because of the he sweetness of their song ane beauty ot f their plumage or the friendliness t of f their natures appeal to us more than an their brethren of some of these etter better known loved birds le it ds a the purpose to arle t th the swallow 1 st thomas aquinas said bald where ve birds are there are the angels aneli 9 st ft thomas itis it Is true haldt in latin ind and the rendering given Is abit a bit free but it expresses what tho good man meant the saint la is credited with being ben n i a home lover and there much doubt that he be had the swallows la in mind when he spoke of birds and angels inace in the same breath most of ua s wh who have reached middle life lived boy hoods days in tho the country A surplus of sentiment anje necessary tomake one connect a angels with the old home where the trees were mere the river ran and the swallows nested the country bred boy knows the swallows better than he knows other birds the sight of a forked tall swallow hawking as bradford torrey puts it through the city streets sheets in spring rakes makes the city man homesick as does doea I 1 I 1 making friends with with a titmouse alt the sight of no other bird the awal low is a countryman no student of 0 sociology will ever be called upon n to suggest means to turn back a alt city ward flight of the swallow it if might not be a waste of energy however to devise a 9 method to turn a few of the swallows to the c ity city tor for a glimpse or two of them with the yearning for the old home and aad things bucolic might solve the deserted farm problem the swallow found its way into the hearts and the homes of the people as long ago as Arist otles time this much we know for the philosopher speaks of it and there bisno Is no reason to doubt that the swallow held his place in ift mans affection during the years of the life of some philosopher who was as aa much earlier than aristotle tia as aristotle is earlier than the philosopher of today it if there be any philosopher of today who may be mentioned prope properly aly in the same sentence with alexanders tutor c the hermit thrush it Is possible that an adequate tribute to the song of the hermit thrush Is beyond the range 0 of human poetic endeavor the poets have nat not dared the song la Is ind and it has a certain purity and e sanctity of tone that mark the singer binger as the fit soloist of them the temple inobe in the wilderness it Is the wild places far removed froeman from man and his works that the bird loyes loves he seeks no audience for his sinking we must musk go to the northern woods and there wait until the shadows 0 ws lengthen and the hush of the evening has come comedown down to hear the hermit thrush break the silence with his vesper hymn the voice Is pure music na other bird singer in america and provable probably no bird singer blager in the world p can approach the hermit thrush lif in the melodious quality of its notes tho the song would be declared sad were li A not so uplifting if it is a prayer and song in orie one sad and it seeps seems to hallow the wilderness the hermit thrush loves lovea equally the low lying woods and tho the forested mountain tops it chooses one or the other for its summer home the tha country folk of the north who have baye heard y tho the song bong at dusl ausit coming froin where tho the woods meet leei th tha marsh call ai tho the bird the swamp ansel the country folk have hav paid the herett higher tribute ut ethan than any poet tife the bluebird when the english settlers in america saw the loose flocks of bluebirds drifting over the march fields the spring sunshine making makin gredder redder the birds red breasts they called them english robins TM the red of the breasts was r responsible for the name the sight of it being a reminder ot of the other red breasted bird in the home fields ov erthe over the sea in a few remote places edIn in new england the bluebird still bears thongma the tho name nama which the pilgrims grims gave but everyn where else throughout the american continent it Is the bluebird and nothing else it Is oneff one ot the few of the american feh feathered species which manage to keep one name in nearly every community in which they dwell the bluebird Is a bird of the heart and of the home it loves the companionship panion ship of man and irwill it will build its nest ands and dwell through gli the summer nier wherever it Is made welcome the bluebird to Is a sweet creature to for r it if there are any vices among its multitude of virtues man haryet has yet to turn theato the light alfred tennyson did not know the bluebird nit but it would seem that he must have heard beard an an echo of e its april note not when ewhen he be wrote and aa in my breast spring wakens too anday and my regret becomes an april v violet olet and buds and blossoms like the rest refit the bobolink the bobo bobolink linkIs Is a summer reveler the bee Is drunk with bloom and why this bacchanalian bobolink Th there theres ereIs Is a eort of delirium in the summertime summer time toy joy of this meadow bird his song has haa been called rapturous ecstatic ic merry sparkling and bub bu bling it I 1 Is 3 all of these e and so something ma more it Is the very abandon 1 ol al music the bobolink while singing seems seema to be in a perfect frenzy he is tipsy with glee he actually staggers in his flight for he cannot rise above the meadow on a summer morning without attempting to beat time with his wings to his own music and tho the wings cannot keep the pace it was a bacchanalian elem element entin in the singing of the bobolink which ap pealed peal edmore more than anything else to fo one of the humbler poets Christop christopher herP P cranch mr air cranch has made the most of that which struck khim him as the dominant tone in the revelers music their tribe still drunk alth air and light and perfume of the meadow go reeling up and down the sky in sunshine and in shadow the kentucky cardinal until a writer who abo loved the cardinal gave atthe it the name of his state those who 1110 knew the bird were content to call it by ita scientific name the cardinal grosbeak science and poetry are far apart james jamea lane allen alien did not claim proprietary rights in this bird of glowing plumage a and n d his beoh b 0 ak modestly enough was called not the but A A kentucky cardinal the cardinal has small place in poetry james jamea lane allen alien has given it an enduring place in prose of the cardinals of standing by the home fields when the snow flies and the other songsters song desert the kentucky writer haa bas this to ta say bay 10 lo some morning the leaves are on the ground and the birds have vanished the that remain or that come to us then wear the hues buea I 1 orthe season and melt into the ohp tone of ha natures tures background blues grays browns with tou touches of white or on tall and breast and whig for coming flecks ot snow save only him proud froud solitary stranger in our unfriendly land i the flery fiery grosbeak nature in kentucky has no winter harmonies tor for him I 1 le he could find these only among alie tufts of the october sur burnach sumach or fr in the gum tree when it stands a pillar of red twilight t fire in the dark november woods 0 or in tho the far depths of the sun set skies and he is left alone on the edge ot of that north northern era world which ho he has baa dared invade |