The Weaver of the West 109 



phy. Maybe the birds had a system of long-distance com- 

 munication even before man called through a trumpet, 

 and ages before he ever shipped his thoughts by wire. 



We were fairly overrun with titmice. They climbed 

 into our camera and clung to our clothes as easily as a 

 fly walks up a wall. They perched on our fingers and our 

 heads, and the parents lit wherever they found the chil- 

 dren. Some fairy always told the mother where to go, 

 as she came again and again with green cutworms that 

 seemed as large as the head of one of her babies. 



Birds differ only in size and dress to some people, but 

 to one who has studied long and carefully at the homes 

 of the different species each feathered creature has a real 

 character of its own. What does a cut-and-dried cata- 

 logued description mean? "Name, Psaltriparus mini- 

 mus (Bush-tit). Nest in hemlock tree six feet from the 

 ground. Identity, positive. Eggs, seven, pure white." 

 This is all right for a city directory, and is almost as inter- 

 esting. Think of labelling your friends in this way ! You 

 don't know a bush-tit any more when you have found him 

 with a field-glass and identified him in your bird manual 

 than you do a man when you are introduced to him and 

 shove his card in your pocket. Each bird has a real indi- 

 viduality. Each is different in character and disposition 

 from all others. I knew the bush-tit and chickadee were 

 cousins before I ever heard of the Paridcs family. They 

 may not look much alike in dress, but aren't they identical 

 in disposition? They are merry because they can't look 

 on the dark side of things. Let to-morrow take care of 

 itself; they live for to-day. 



I've watched the young birds of many species where 



