u6 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Vol 



ame 



V 



AUGUST 1912 



Number 4 



Astonishing Performances of a Blue- 

 Bird. 



It is not to be wondered at that tht 

 term nature faker has been applied to 

 many genuine naturalists. The wonder 

 is that it has not been applied to more. 

 When one sees a natural action, though 

 it be decidedly out of the ordinary, it 

 seems perfectly natural, and the obser- 

 ver usually takes it as a matter of fact. 

 But perhaps long afterwards, the full 

 and remarkable import dawns upon 

 him. Then he writes an account of hi c 

 observations, and this account, isolated 

 from the original observation, seems 

 incredible and to entitle the observer to 

 a place among the nature fakers. As 

 an example of this, I recently witness- 

 ed a remarkable performance of a blue- 

 bird, and not until several days after- 

 ward did it occur to me that it was 

 unusual or specially noteworthy. At 

 the time it seemed surprising, yet quite 

 the ordinary thing for a bluebird to do, 

 simply because a bluebird did it, and 

 in a very natural manner. 



I was sitting with a pleasant company 

 on some rustic furniture around a rus- 

 tic table on Mr. John C. Uhrlaub's 

 lawn, under a wide spreading tree. A 

 (bluebird flew down and lighted on the 

 -end of a perpendicular stake, some 40 

 ■or 50 rods away in the garden, making 

 it seem from the isolated position of the 

 stake, an unusually consoicuous po- 

 sition. I exclaimed to the lady who sat 

 on the opposite side of the table, "See 

 that bluebird," and with mv index- 



finger and fully extended arm, I pointed 

 to the bird. She turned to see it and 

 immediately, as I extended my arm, the 

 bluebird flew straight toward my 

 finger. From some strange fascination 

 as I saw that bird coming toward me 

 I held my arm and finger in the same 

 position. The bird was evidently fas- 

 cinated or attracted in some unknown 

 psychological or hypnotic manner by 

 my extended arm and finger, because it 

 flew as straight as it could fly, until it 

 was just on the other side of the table, 

 then it swerved abruptly downward, 

 went under the chair in which the lady 

 was sitting, through the intricate rustic 

 work on the lower side of the table 

 and through the rounds of my chair, 

 brushing shandy my trousers by its ex- 

 tended wings as it swot under me. The 

 question is: What was the cause of 

 that bird's peculiar action? It seems 

 to me that she was attracted by the 

 extended finger, but that the attraction 

 was disturbed by fear as she came near 

 to us, and yet why did she take the 

 course under the table, which seemed 

 a difficult place to pass through? 



Copvrieht 1912 by The Agassiz Association. Arcadia 



Misunderstood Kindness. 



Not long ago I was traveling in the 

 country near the home of my boyhood 

 and found a picturesque old house in 

 which a friend of my boyhood was liv- 

 ing. He was not at home, but I took 

 an excellent photograph of his house 

 and later sent it to him with my com- 

 pliments. It was probably the first 



Sound Beach, Conn. 



