BIRDS MAY BRING YOU MORE HAPPINESS 



THAN THE WEALTH OF THi: INDIES 



By Frank M. Chapman 



The folloiving article is reprinted from "Bird Life," o most useful guide to 

 the study of our common birds, by Frank M. Chapman, illustrated b\ j-j full- 

 page colored plates after drazi'ings by Ernest Seton Thompson. Mr. Chapman is 

 Curator of Ornithology in the American Museum of Xatural History; author of 

 "Handbook of Birds of Eastern Xorth America," "The Warblers of Xorth .Imer- 

 ica," "Bird Studies Zi'ith the Camera/' "Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist," 

 and editor of "Bird Lore." 



BIRDS possess unusual claims to 

 our attention. They are prac- 

 tically the only ones of the higher 

 animals with which we may come in con- 

 tact daily. Our large mammals have 

 either been exterminated or driven from 

 the vicinity of our homes, while most of 

 the smaller species are nocturnal and 

 therefore rarely seen. Reptiles and ba- 

 trachians are difficult to observe and are 

 not popular, while fishes, from the nature 

 of their haunts, can be studied only under 

 certain conditions. Birds, however, are 

 everywhere — in field and wood and sky, 

 in our orchards and gardens — and some 

 of them are with us at all seasons. 



But birds' merits do not consist merely 

 in their abundance. In beauty of plu- 

 mage, grace of motion, and vocal ability 

 they are without rivals ; in their migra- 

 tion, mating, and nesting habits they not 

 only display unusual intelligence, but ex- 

 hibit human traits of character that 

 create within us a feeling of kinship with 

 them, and thus increase our interest in 

 and love for them. Furthermore, as with 

 increasing knowledge we begin to realize 

 their economic value, we are more than 

 ever impressed with the importance of 

 becoming acquainted with them. 



How unusual it is to meet any one who 

 can correctly name a dozen of our birds ! 

 One may live in the country and still 

 know only two or three of the one hun- 

 dred and fifty or more kinds of birds 

 that may be found during the year. Nev- 

 ertheless, these gay, restless creatures, 

 both by voice and action, constantly in- 

 vite our attention, and they are far too 

 interesting and beautiful to be ignored. 

 No one to whom Xature appeals should 

 be without some knowledge of these, the 

 most attractive of her animate forms. 



An inherent love of birds is an un- 

 deniable psychological fact, which find< 



its most frequent expression in the gen- 

 eral fondness for cage-birds. If we can 

 learn to regard the birds of the woods 

 and fields with all the affection we lavish 

 on our ix)or cajjlives in their gilded 

 homes, what an ine.xhaustible store <>f 

 enjoyment is ours ! 



It is not alone the beauty, power of 

 song, or intelligence of birds which at- 

 tracts us ; it is their human attributes. 

 ]\Ian exhibits hardly a trait which lie will 

 not find reflected in the life of a bird. 

 Love, hate ; courage, fear : anger, pleas- 

 ure ; vanity, modesty; virtue, vice; con- 

 stancy, fickleness ; generosity, selfishness ; 

 wit, curiosity, memory, reason — we may 

 find them all exhibited in the lives of 

 birds. 



Birds have thus become symbolic of 

 certain human characteristics, and the 

 more common species are so interwoven 

 in our art and literature that by name at 

 least they are known to all of us. Shake- 

 speare makes over six hundred refer- 

 ences to birds or bird-life. If we should 

 rob Wordsworth's verses of their birds, 

 how sadly mutilated what remained 

 would be ! 



THE NEVER F.MLIXr, C1I.\RM OE TIIK niRD 



But why leave a knowledge of birds to 

 poets and naturalists? Go yourself to 

 the field and learn that birds flo not exist 

 solely in books, but arc concrete, sentient 

 beings, whose acquaintance may bring 

 vou more unalloyed happiness than the 

 wealth of the Indies. 



lohn Burroughs understands this when 

 he writes of the study of birds: "There 

 is a fascination about it quite overpower- 

 ing. It fits so well with other things^ 

 with fishing, hunting, farming, walking, 

 camping out — with all that takes one to 

 the fields and woods. One may go a 

 blackbcrrving and make some rare dis- 



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