Chirps and 
Chatter. 
(135) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Chirps and Chatter. 
The Courage of a Thrush. 
A very interesting drama of animal 
life has recently been enacted in the 
Manse garden at Dysart. The season 
has, of course, been very late, and a 
pair of Thrushes have hatched a brood 
within the last few weeks. Just as the 
young birds began to attempt flight, one 
of them fell a prey to the household cat. 
The latter is a large and beautiful Per¬ 
sian, a keen hunter, the terror of birds 
and mice, and has frequently hunted 
and caught rats. Shortly after the kill¬ 
ing of. the little fledgling, the cat was 
one day observed fleeing as if for its 
life from the garden to the house, hotly 
pursued by the infuriated father of its 
victim, the Thrush uttering fierce cries 
and apparently bent on vengeance. All 
day long thereafter one or other of the 
parent birds kept watch near the garden 
or the kitchen door of the house, and 
the moment the cat appeared at door or 
window, set up a vigorous screeching, 
uttering a continuous note of rage and 
defiance. 
In Fearful Terror. 
For several days the Persian could 
not venture out without being chased 
into the house immediately he was dis¬ 
covered. He would sit in the doorways 
palpitating with fear, faced by his 
plucky little enemy, which sometimes 
perched within a foot or two and once 
or twice swooped down upon him, all 
but entering the house, when the great 
cat fled from the attack. This constant 
watching and shadowing continued 
until the brood were strong enough to 
leave the nest and the garden for good. 
All the time, the birds, young and old, 
were quite indifferent to the presence 
in the garden of any other inmate of the 
house, and to the racing about and 
barking of a lively collie dog. So long 
as their sentinel had the Persian under 
observation, the young ones hopped 
about all over the grass and flower-pots 
in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
family foe. 
Cuckoos’ Eggs. 
Cuckoos’ eggs are reported to have' 
been found in the nests of sixty different 
species, but most frequently in those of 
the Hedge - sparrow, Reed - warbler,. 
Meadow Pipit, and Wagtail. It may be 
said that all eggs of the same species, 
are liable to vary within certain limits, 
but there is always a general re¬ 
semblance in those laid by the same- 
bird. Cuckoos’ eggs vary somewhat 
both in colour and markings, and now 
and then bear a striking resemblance to- 
those of the foster-parents in whose 
nests they are laid. But this must be- 
merely accidental, for it as often hap¬ 
pens that they are quite dissimilar, and 
no one can seriously accept the theory 
that the Cuckoo, being cognisant of 
colour, looks for the nest of a species 
whose eggs resembles her own, and de¬ 
posits the latter among them. This, 
would not explain the case, which often 
happens, of a Cuckoo laying her egg in 
an empty nest, nor would it say much 
for the intelligence of a Cuckoo which, 
having a speckled brown, or grey, egg 
to lay, deposited it in the nest of a 
Hedge-sparrow which already contained 
three or four bright blue eggs. 
The Solitary Heron. 
The Heron, for instance, though it 
lives in a heronry, as the Rook lives in 
a rookery, fares best by itself. Two 
birds angling in the same water would 
spoil each other’s sport; and I know no 
creature more furiously vicious than a 
Heron which comes to its favourite pool 
and finds another Heron there. The 
Rook, on the other hand, is very rarely 
alone, because he finds safety in company, 
and there is, therefore, no reason why the 
young Rooks should defer mating until 
the spring. Two heads are always 
better than one, and if a venturesome 
Rook desires to prospect for a better 
feeding ground it would be to his ad¬ 
vantage to have a wife with him. 
