JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



27 



that "squawks" is the familiar name by 

 which they are commonly known. All 

 honor to the man who keeps far away 

 from such a place, the death-dealing 

 sportsman. In this connection it may 

 be interesting to quote the Mosaic law 

 forbidding the taking of nesting birds : 

 "If a bird's nest chance to be before 

 thee in the way, in any tree or on the 

 ground, with 3'ouug ones or eggs, and 

 the dam sitting upon the young ; thou 

 shalt in any wise let the dam go, but 

 the young thou mayest take unto thy- 

 self : that it may be well with thee and 

 that thou mayest prolong thy daj's." I 

 am not sure that I quite agree with the 

 interpretation which Dr. Thomson puts 

 upon ihis i)assage : "Notice uow the 

 compreheusive specifications of this pre- 

 cept by which j^ou are forbidden to 

 molest these nests. You must in no 

 wise take the dam, and you do not want 

 either the eggs or the young, so all must 

 be left." Doubtless that would be the 

 usual result of obeying this direction, 

 though in some cases the young might 

 be taken ; certainly that cruel crime of 

 killing the old bird and allowing the 

 young to perish of hunger and exposure 

 in the nest, would never be committed 

 if this law were obeyed. Additional 

 weight is given to the command by the 

 sanction under which it is enforced, 

 "That it may be well with thee and that 

 thou mayest prolong thy days." The 

 life even of a bird is sacred, and one 

 who takes it cruelly deserves misfortune 

 and shortness of days. I am glad that 

 "bird protection" has a prominent place 

 in the purposes of our society. When 

 the psalmist exclaims in triumph, "Our 

 soul is escaped as a bird out of the 

 snare of the fowler ; the snare is broken, 

 and we are escaped ;" he shows that his 



s^Miipathies are with the bird in such a 

 case as well as with his associates who 

 have shared with him in some great 

 deliverance. 



It was a part of the simple life of the 

 Jews and of their direct contact with 

 common things that cock-crowing should 

 be used to designate a certain period of 

 the day. It was a part of the same 

 simplicity that Jesus gave to Peter the 

 token, "The cock shall not crow till 

 thou hast thrice denied me." Even in 

 the open court of the high priest's pal- 

 ace, it was the hearing of the appointed 

 signal, — "Immediately the cock crew," 

 — that recalled Peter to himself and to 

 his loyalty to his Master. How remote 

 from our modern and northern civiliza- 

 tion is such a scene as this, but how 

 true to the open-air life which prevails 

 in oriental lands. 



The care of the mother bird hovering 

 her young under her wings is used re- 

 peatedly to set forth God's care for his 

 people. Thus David ciies out, "My 

 soul taketh refuge in thee. Yea, in the 

 shadow of thy wings will I take refuge." 

 In the ninety-first psalm the same figure 

 appears, "He shall cover thee with his 

 piuions, and under his wings shalt thou 

 take refuge." But most touchingly the 

 figure comes in, in the lament over 

 Jerusalem in view of its subsequent 

 destruction : "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 

 how often would I have gathered thy 

 children together even as a hen gather- 

 eth her chickens under her wings and 

 ye would not." As wings signify swift- 

 ness, strength, protection, may not this 

 be the meaning of the wings which are 

 ascribed to angels, and even of the 

 wings of the cherubim which overshad- 

 owed the mercy seat in the Most Holy 

 Place of the temple? 



