XI 

 JIMMY THE BUTCHER-BIRD 



THE first time I saw Jimmy he was doubled up in a 

 fluffy ball with his head under his wing. For a bed 

 he had taken a eucalyptus limb that hung on the back 

 porch. He had been brought in with another nestling by a 

 small boy, who said that the mother had " died of a cat." 

 There was a question at the time as to whether this was 

 the real cause of her taking-off, but the fact remained that 

 the bantlings were in danger of starvation. With two 

 orphans on her hands, there was nothing left for our 

 neighbor to do but to adopt them. A little fresh meat 

 seemed to revive the two bobtailed youngsters, but the 

 smaller of the two was not long for this world, and in a 

 few days one young Butcher-bird (Lanius ludovicianus 

 gambeli) was left. 



Yes, a butcher-bird for a pet. Might as well adopt 

 a cannibal or become a foreign missionary, one of our 

 friends thought. But helplessness always arouses pity, and 

 some of us like a bird merely because he is a bird. 



Some one has said that man's interest in birds lies in 

 the fact that we were birds ourselves before we reached 

 the human stage. An angel is a child with wings. How 

 much bird actions are like human actions! They frolic 

 and they toil. What other animal approaches nearer to 

 man as a home builder and housekeeper than the bird ? 



And, after all, this young orphan butcher-bird could 



"5 



