XXXI. THE SONG-BIRDS OF THE FARM 



'^The woods were filled so full of song 

 There seemed no room for sense of wrong." 



— Tennyson. 



Nothing is more natiiral than that we shotdd be interested 

 in birds. Their appeal to us is manifold. Their colors are 

 beautiftd, and the texture and design of their garb are elegant 

 beyond comparison. Their sprightliness is wonderful. They 

 flit from morning till night unceasingly, and traverse the air 

 with a freedom that often moves us to say, enviously, with 

 Darius Green, * 'Birds can fly, and why can't I?" When we 

 shall have * 'conquered the air", our flying bids fair to be 

 serious work rather than play, such as theirs is. Their songs 

 are the finest vocal expressions of the animal world — expres- 

 sions apparently of contentment, of tender sentiments and of 

 exuberant joy. Their nests show fine discrimination in the 

 selection and use of materials, artistic sense of decorative 

 values, and in their construction they disclose the elements of 

 basketry and carpentry, and of both plastic and textile art. 

 Their family life is nearly ideal ; the fidelity of mates to each 

 other and the devotion of parents to tjheir brood being such 

 as himian society aspires to, but has not yet fully attained. 



And if aU these things were not enough, there would still 

 remain the practical consideration that birds aid us in our 

 agriculture. They feed on insect pests of field and orchard; 

 and if any one were so devoid of sentiment as not to like a 

 robin singing from the housetop, he might still appreciate the 

 bird when found devouring cutworms in the garden. It is 

 not economic, but esthetic values, however, that are to be the 

 subject of this study. Let us get acquainted with the birds 

 dwelling near us for the sake of the pleasure to be had from 

 personally knowing creatures so beautiful, so timeful and so 

 artful. 



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