154 SIDE THOUGHTS ABOUT BIRDS. 



SIDE THOUGHTS ABOUT BIRDS. 



BY FRANK E. COOMBS. 



In presenting this hastily prepared paper, it is due to say 

 that my intention is not to submit a formal treatise upon 

 birds from any definite standpoint, nor to specially discuss 

 any single bearing of their relation to us. I take for granted 

 that little which is new would be so added to the knowledge 

 of those already versed in bird lore, but that a touch upon 

 some of the manifold interests the subject holds for all, may 

 turn the thoughts of others toward a field of natural history 

 as accessible as it is fascinating and instructive. 



From the remotest times the forms of life surrounding him 

 have pressed their claim in one or another way upon man's 

 attention. As food, as purveyors of clothing, or as cruel 

 enemies, some plants and animals have everywhere been 

 woven into his daily life, coming down to us in rude bone 

 carvings and rock picturings, and in tribal legends and 

 totem-posts. But it is interesting to note that while in the 

 myths and folk-tales of nations the four-footed beasts were 

 almost invariably connected with ideas of violence, cunning 

 and terror — like the widespread story of the were-wolf, 

 older than Greek civilization, and the Hindoo legends of the 

 tiger — whenever the bird appears it is generally as the 

 friend and protector of mankind. Thus the Arabs celebrate 

 the mystic Roc ; the Hebrews made the Dove the messenger 

 of a rejuvenated world ; Grecian sailors loved the storm- 

 pacifying Halcyon ; and the house-top Stork is as sacred 

 from harm in Holland to-day as the Ibis was in Egypt five 

 thousand years ago. 



