Bif'ds in Horticulture. ,183 



for all countries, all times, and all seasons. We go to school to learn some- 

 thing of ancient^Greece and Rome, of Alexander and Napoleon, but of our- 

 selves and of the wonderful life around us we, know nothing, or but little 



Thomas Carlyle says: '■ For many years it has been one of my constant re- 

 grets that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of natui-al history; so 

 far at least as to have taught me the names and habits of the little winged 

 and wingless neighbors that are constantly meeting me with a salutation 

 which I can not answer, as things are." Who will deny that if this knowl- 

 edge had been Carlyle's, his life had not been sweeter, and better and the 

 world, as well as he, been the gainer ? 



People living in towns and cities should make friends with Nature, for, by 

 ■doing so, a new, fresh fountain of life is ever near. But to the people of the 

 country, Avho sometimes are burdened with a feeling of oppression and iso- 

 lation, she comes most near, for to them she whispers her secrets and mys- 

 teries, that are so old, yet ever new. Dear Mother Earth, from her we came, 

 and to her at last we shall go. It is from the bright things of earth that mu- 

 i^ic and poetry are born, and who so much a teacher of the poet as the robin 

 and blue bird, just out of the sky— where he came from is a mystery, for he 

 brings no reporter with him, and his secrets we can never know. The blue 

 bird is one of the earliest, sweetest and most familiar birds of the garden. 

 Burrough says, " when Nature made the blue bird, she wished to propitiate 

 both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the color of one on his back, and 

 the hue of the other on his breast." The first breath of spring brings him 

 among us. His song is a sweet, melodious warble, all harmony, for his notes 

 are so pure that he is incapable of making a discord. The song is continu- 

 ous through the summer; wherever we go, in town or country, it is heard. 

 The western blue bird is said to sing a more sweet and tender song than the 

 ■eastern bird, also to have a more brilliant and showy color. 



The robin's song has not a great variety of notes, therefore naturalists do 

 iiot regard him as a first-class minstrel. He ranks about as third rate; but 

 for a song that wears like the old home melodies, give us first and last the 

 robin's song, with its sweet, simple melody, that always cheers and refreshes 

 but never tires. No bird sings at dawn like the robin. He is most assuredly 

 the favorite bird of our land, the bird of poetry and song. He has even been 

 regarded as the bird having a soul, probably from the many tales and le- 

 gends that have been told of him in past ages. The ancient legend of the 

 robin that came to us ages ago is this: The dear bird saw Jesus upon the 

 cross; he plucked a thorn from his brow, and the blood stains which tinged 

 the breast of that faithful bird have been upon every robin since. One other 



legend is : 



" Of the fiery pit, 

 And how, drop by drop, this merciful bird 

 Carries the water that quenches it. 



" He brings cool dew in his little bill 



And lets it fall on the souls of sin ; 

 You can see the mark on his red breast still 



Of the fires that scorch as he drops it in." 



