. Bird-land echoes; . he highway or in the public park,he is never molested. Then, too, there are sports-men who claim that the world outside of city limitsis for their sole delectation, and demand the deathof every hawk and owl because these birds occasion-ally dine on quail or grouse,—a rare occurrence ;such men are an unreasonable set that need check-ing, for they have already wrought endless mischiefLastly, there are the mighty host of indifferent peo-ple, men otherwise intelligent, but so engrossed withpersonal affairs, so preoccupied with business, thatthe song of a bird never falls upon
. Bird-land echoes; . he highway or in the public park,he is never molested. Then, too, there are sports-men who claim that the world outside of city limitsis for their sole delectation, and demand the deathof every hawk and owl because these birds occasion-ally dine on quail or grouse,—a rare occurrence ;such men are an unreasonable set that need check-ing, for they have already wrought endless mischiefLastly, there are the mighty host of indifferent peo-ple, men otherwise intelligent, but so engrossed withpersonal affairs, so preoccupied with business, thatthe song of a bird never falls upon their ears ; andfrom them all the way down the scale of humanity The Masters of Melody. 85 to that pitiful spectacle, a woman who wears a birdsskin on her hat, the culpable accessory of that vilecreature, a bird-murderer. The robin, because it is not methodically migra-tory, but comes and goes all winter and is here atother times, is perhaps the best known of all ourbirds. The name is so prominent in childrens sto-. Robin. ries, in folk-lore, in poetry, and in general litera-ture, that even town children who have never seenthe bird know it by name ; but to many grownpeople, even those who have lived all their lives inthe country, the robin is not familiar as a winter is known to come and go, it is true, but is supposedto be merely in transit, and just where the observerhappens to be is not its abiding-place. This impres-sion is due to lack of observation, for the birds areas well disposed towards your thicket and cedar-trees 86 Bird-Land Echoes. as those of some far-off neighbor. This ciystal-clear,cold January day, with the mercury almost at zero, Ifound the robins on the south hill-side, and seldomhave they shown to better advantage. One wasperched in a sapling beech to which the leaves stillclung. It chirped at times so that its companionscould hear it, and was answered by them, as well as bythe nuthatches, a tree-creeper, some sparrows, and awinter wren. It was a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1896
