STATE HORTTCULTURaL SOCIfiTV. \Q^ 



On motion of Mr. Flagg, the Society requested Mr. Cooper to pre- 

 sent his rejjort on Ornithology, which had been crowded out from its 

 regular order. 



REPORT OF J. C. COOPER, COMMITTEE ON ORNITHOLOGY. 



Afr. Prcsid,-nt • 



1 must say llial 1 was \(*iv iniu h siir|irisc(l ;it receiving a ( ire ular 

 from the Secretary inronniii:.', nu- thai I had been appointed a nu-nil)er 

 of the Committee on Ornithology tor eighteen seventy-two, with a request 

 to "report upon all matters which come legitimately within tlie province 

 of such committee " — for the reason that a report on any subject which 

 comes legitimatelv within the province of the State Horticultural Society, 

 should contain the results of practical experience and observation, to 

 make it of any \alue — and in these two essential qualifications 1 am free 

 to acknowledge my ignorance of any knowledge of practical value per- 

 taining to the subject assigned me. 



1 may say that 1 have taken more or less interest in birds, in com- 

 mon with every person who loves the works of nature, and have always 

 been inclined to the belief that they were the natural friends of man, 

 rendering to him a full tjiiiJ pro (///t> for all their trespasses upon his work. 

 1 used to think, il 1 was a fruit grower, 1 would cultivate the acquaint- 

 ance of the birds; 1 would sa\ to tlinn Ironi the alTections of my heart, 

 "You beautiful harbingers of joy, who ( ome to me after the silence and 

 the chill and the gloom of winter, with the tirst glad songs of the spring, 

 you are welcome to my small hospitality. 1 esteem it a pleasure to have 

 the privilege to entertain you, as a slight return for the valuable assis- 

 tance you render me in keeping in subjection the swarms of insect pests 

 which destroy the t>uils ol rn\ labor ; and for the delicious scjIos and 

 concerts of entertainment vou have given me." but afterwards, when 

 I began to raise fruits in an amateur wav, for the su])ply of my fan^ily, 

 and after planting and cultivating tcj a maturity whicii i)i-.)niised the long 

 expected reward, when 1 foinid my esteemed friends, the birds, feasting 

 on the long-looked-for tirst strawberries, and day after da\ postponing 

 the delicious first saucer full of the season, picking ^^'i my choicest 

 cherries before thev were rijjc, watching with a faithful pertinacity that 

 in man would win him success in any field of labor, for the hrst raspberry 

 to color, and then making away with it just liefore 1 was ready to gather 

 it; and then when the grapes, which hang in such glorious clusters over 

 my head in the arbor, as 1 walkthrough it ov^er and over again and watch 

 the precious tint of color as it spreads and encircles the little globular 

 repositories of the precious nectar, as they begin to ripen, to fmd that 

 they are being appropriated as fast as they ri[)en by those whom i had 

 esteemed my friends, and wlio start away with an evident conscious- 

 ness of guilt upon my approach, when I l)egan to feel their merciless 

 beak in my dearest hopes, somehow or other my feelings undergo a com- 

 plete revulsion, and in place of the kindly sentiment of hospitality, the 

 baser feelings of revenge would take sway, and it required a good deal 



