HE ORNITHOLOGIST 



Q.^2. 



■ o ^ *^S)^ ~> 



Vol. 1. 



TWIN BLUFFS, WIS., JULY, 1885. 



No. 3. 



Deceived by a Mocking- Bird. 



[N. Y. Exchange.] 



In a second-story window of a dwel- 

 ling in Fifth avenue, Brooklyn, 

 around the corner from the Flatbush 

 avenue depot of the Long Island 

 Railroad, and overlooking the water- 

 ing-place for the horses on ex-Deacon 

 Richardson's Seventh and Fifth 

 avenue horse-car lines, hangs a tal- 

 ented mocking-bird in a cage. It 

 pipes all day, and keeps it up until 

 late at night. Regular passengers 

 on the horse-cars have learned to 

 look for the bird's notes. It whistles 

 like a master for his dog, chirps like 

 a robin predicting rain, clucks like a 

 hen with her brood, and squeaks 

 like a hurt chicken. Of late it has 

 learned to imitate the whistles 

 which conductors on the open horse- 

 cars use. 



To the grief of the hostler with 

 the water pails, the bird succeeds to 

 perfection in deceiving the horses. 

 The water supply is kept in three 

 pails on a low bench placed between 

 the tracks. To save time both of 

 the horses are watered simultane- 

 ously by two men who hold the full 

 pails of water to the horses' mouths. 

 When the horses' thirst is satisfied 

 the conductor sounds the whistle 

 twice, and the driver loosens the 

 brake. Then the horses start. Now, 

 while yet the horses' noses are in 

 the water pails the bird sounds two 

 whistles. 



The horses, taken by surprise, and 

 expecting the whip if they delay, tip 

 the pails of water over the hostlers 

 with their noses and plunge for- 

 ward. Of course they can not go 

 ahead, for the break is on, and they 

 are held back to finish their drink, 

 but the air assumes a blue tinge, 



owing to the picturesque profanity 

 of the driver and hostlers. 



The Meaning of an Old Rhyme. 



"Four and twenty blackbirds 

 baked in a pie" is a very old nursery 

 rhyme. These are the four and 

 twenty hours of the day; the "pie" 

 is the space between the earth and 

 the sky, the flat-looking ground be- 

 ing the bottom crust, the birds in 

 between, and the sky being the con- 

 cave to the crust. 



"W T hen the pie was opened" 

 means when day began to break. 

 "The king in the parlor counting 

 out money" — the king is the sun, 

 the monarch of day. There he is 

 enthroned in the sky. He is said to 

 be counting out money, because the 

 sunshine is gold-color. See how he 

 flings about him the beautiful gold- 

 en sunshine! 



"The queen up-stairs eating bread 

 and honey." Of course, if the king 

 is the sun, the queen is the moon. 

 "The maid in the garden hanging 

 out clothes." This maid is Aurora, 

 the goddess of the dawn. Now "Up 

 jumped a little bird and nipped off 

 her nose." This naughty little bird 

 is the first hour, for Aurora, or dawn, 

 disappears as soon as the sun arises. 

 .»♦■». 



A Companion for the "Weeping 

 Willow. " 



In the island of Goa, near Bombay, 

 there is a singular vegetable called 

 the "Sorrowful Tree," because it 

 flourishes only in the night. At 

 sunset no flowers are to be seen, and 

 yet after half an hour it is full of 

 them. They yield a sweet odor, but 

 the sun no sooner begins to shine 

 upon them than some of them fall 



