alliot] A BIRD COURT OF SOXG 325 



For, if we can fill the plastic minds of growing children with thoughts 

 of the beautiful world of nature, with the fascination of the myriads 

 of wee beauties, more wonder fid than a circus, we can so saturate 

 them with the good, that no room remains for the morbid, the undesir- 

 able, the vicious. Let us teach than to read roadsides as well as books. 



A Bird Court of Song 



Hector Alliot 

 Los Angeles, Calif. 



Strolling through the fields of Colorado one midsummer day in 

 quest of interesting bird studies, my attention was arrested by a 

 noisy chirping and twittering, and I found myself in the midst of 

 a great flock of linnets, all apparently flying towaid the same spot 

 - — a gully at the edge of the field. Cautiously approaching— 

 camera in hand — I beheld a vast assemblage of the little red-heads, 

 perched in long rows upon the strings of a barbed wire fence, 

 crowding and pushing one another, each bird seemingly intent 

 upon securing a point of vantage near a certain post. 



For some time I watched their peculiar antics, endeavoring to 

 learn why such an unusual number of the birds had congregated, 

 and listening to their incessant chirping. The meeting was like a 

 gathering of school children, or a picnic, each little one striving to 

 make more noise and attract more attention than his fellows. 

 Having witnessed several "bird courts" in New York and Penn- 

 sylvania, the meetings of crows, ravens, and others of the feathered 

 tribe convened for the purpose of dispensing bird justice, I won- 

 dered whether these little linnets were following the example of 

 their sable neighbors, the crows, and had come to try and punish 

 some tiny offender. They fluttered nervously about like birds 

 seeking a roost at twilight; now and then one would drop sud- 

 denly down upon another comfortably settled on a wire, and dis- 

 lodge him, which would call forth a noisy protest and increased 

 chirping and excitement. Gradually, however, the assemblage — ■ 

 now numbering a hundred or more birds — quieted down and the 

 clamor became but a low, twittering murmur. Then followed an 

 instant of perfect stillness. 



At that moment a beautiful, brilliantly colored cock bird flew to 

 the top of the fencepost which was somewhat higher than the wires. 

 In full view of the entire assemblage he strutted about on the 



