Our national parks . , and sermonthey go home to feast, to put Gods song birdsto use, put them in their dinners instead of intheir hearts, eat them, and suck the pitiful littledrumsticks. It is only race living on race, tobe sure, but Christians singing Divine Love neednot be driven to such straits while wheat andapples grow and the shops are full of dead birds for food ! Compared with this, mak-ing kindlings of pianos and violins would bepious economy. The larks come in large flocks from the hillsand mountains in the fall, and are slaughteredas ruthlessly as the robins. Fortunatel
Our national parks . , and sermonthey go home to feast, to put Gods song birdsto use, put them in their dinners instead of intheir hearts, eat them, and suck the pitiful littledrumsticks. It is only race living on race, tobe sure, but Christians singing Divine Love neednot be driven to such straits while wheat andapples grow and the shops are full of dead birds for food ! Compared with this, mak-ing kindlings of pianos and violins would bepious economy. The larks come in large flocks from the hillsand mountains in the fall, and are slaughteredas ruthlessly as the robins. Fortunately, mostof our song birds keep back in leafy hidings,and are comparatively inaccessible. The water ouzel, in his rocky home amidfoaming waters, seldom sees a gun, and of allthe singers I like him the best. He is a plainlydressed little bird, about the size of a robin, withshort, crisp, but rather broad wings, and a tailof moderate length, slanted up, giving him, withhis nodding, bobbing manners, a wrennish look. ,.:!/. AMONG THE BIRDS OF THE YOSEMITE 239 He IS usually seen fluttering about in the sprayof falls and the rapid cascading portions of themain branches of the rivers. These are his fa-vorite haunts; but he is often seen also on com-paratively level reaches and occasionally on theshores of mountain lakes, especially at the be-ginning of winter, when heavy snowfalls haveblurred the streams with sludge. Though not awater-bird in structure, he gets his living in thewater, and is never seen away from the immedi-ate margin of streams. He dives fearlessly intorough, boihng eddies and rapids to feed at thebottom, flying under water seemingly as easilyas in the air. Sometimes he wades in shallowplaces, thrusting his head under from time totime in a nodding, frisky way that is sure toattract attention. His flight is a solid whir ofwing-beats like that of a partridge, and in goingfrom place to place along his favorite string ofrapids he follows the windings of the stream,and usual
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidournationalparks1909muir
