Bird Biographies

Long before the place of birds in the great scheme of nature was understood, they made their appeal: first, to primitive man, who had curious superstitions and created beautiful myths concerning them; next, to poets and dreamers of ancient civilizations, who used them in allusions beautiful with Oriental imagery; to artists, who delighted in portraying symbolism; to later poets and lovers of beauty, who perceived deep truths and revelations of God; and to scientists, who saw back of the phenomena of nature the marvelous laws of God.

It is interesting to follow the effect birds have had upon the development of man. Though the religion of the early Egyptians was largely worship of the sun and moon, yet reverence for birds entered into their faith and their ritual. The swallow, the heron, the hawk, the vulture, the goose, and the ibis were all held sacred. The people of Egypt with their belief in transmigration, imagined the swallow and the heron as possible abiding-places for their souls after death.

The Chinese and Japanese have had interesting conceptions regarding birds that have been both symbolic and poetic. In Japan, wild ducks, geese, cocks, herons, and cranes have been highly honored. The people have built torii gates, or entrances to their temples, as "bird-rests" or perches for their sacred fowl.

The Greek and Roman mythologies abound in allusions to bird-life. It was natural that the powerful eagle should be held sacred to Jupiter, the lordly peacock to Juno, the wise owl to Minerva, the repulsive vulture that haunted battlefields to Mars, the beautiful swan to Apollo, and the cooing dove to Venus.

The American Indians regarded birds with great reverence. Their bird-myths are full of beauty. To them the eagle and the raven were especially sacred.

The dove was a cherished symbol of early Christian writers and painters. The pelican, too, was revered; it was the mediæval symbol of charity. The red breast of the robin was thought to have been caused by a prick of a thorn in Christ's crown as the bird strove to "wrench one single thorn away." The red crossbill's beak was believed to have been twisted in its attempt to remove the iron nail from Christ's blood-stained hand.

Burroughs continues: "The very oldest poets, the towering antique bards, seem to make very little mention of the song-birds. They loved better the soaring, swooping birds of prey, the eagle, the ominous birds, the vultures, the storks and cranes, or the clamorous sea-birds and the screaming hawk. These suited better the rugged, warlike character of the times, and the simple, powerful souls of the singers themselves. Homer must have heard the twittering of the swallows, the cry of the plover, the voice of the turtle (dove), and the warble of the nightingale; but they were not adequate symbols to express what he felt or to adorn his theme. Æschylus saw in the eagle the 'dog of Jove,' and his verse cuts like a sword with such a conception.

"It is not because the old bards were less as poets, but that they were more as men. To strong, susceptible characters, the music of nature is not confined to sweet sounds. The defiant scream of the hawk circling aloft, the wild whinney of the loon, the whooping of the crane, the booming of the bittern, the loud trumpeting of the migratory geese sounding down out of the midnight sky, or the wild crooning of the flocks of gulls--are much more welcome in certain moods than any and all mere bird-melodies, in keeping as they are with the shaggy and untamed features of ocean and woods, and suggesting something like Richard Wagner music in the ornithological orchestra."

As the life of man grew less warlike and heroic, as the humbler fireside virtues were honored and the amenities of life were cultivated, it is true that poets sang of the gentler, more beautiful aspects of nature. Wordsworth wrote of the skylark, the cuckoo, and the throstle, Shelley and Shakespeare of the skylark, Keats of the nightingale and of goldfinches, Tennyson of the swallow and the throstle. They were, however, all deeply sensitive to the wilder phases of nature--to the scudding cloud, the dashing spray of the ocean, the raving and moaning of the tempest. They saw, too, as have many later poets, a spiritual significance and an inspiration as truly great and ennobling as the conceptions of the older bards.

Numerous American poets have found spiritual help, comfort, and inspiration in birds. Frank Bolles felt the presence of God in the forest where the Oven-bird sings:

"Pouring out his spirit's gladness Toward the Source of life and being."

Celia Thaxter mused on God's care of man and bird:

"For are we not God's children both, Thou, little Sandpiper, and I?"

Serenity and joy came to Edna Dean Proctor:

"My heart beside the bluebird, sings And folds serene its weary wings."

Edward Rowland Sill voiced human need in his poem:

"Then will the birds sing anthems: for the earth and sky and air Will seem a great cathedral, filled with beings dear and fair; And long processions, from the time that bluebird notes begin Till gentians fade, through forest-aisles will still move out and in."

All who appreciate Bryant's great poem "To a Waterfowl" may see God, not only "flying over the hill with the bird," but as the unfailing guide of the human soul.

"He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright."

No more triumphant lines exist in literature than those in Browning's "Paracelsus" which express faith in God's guidance of man and bird:

"I go to prove my soul! I see my way as birds their trackless way. I shall arrive: what time, what circuit first, I ask not: but unless God send his hail Or blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow, In some time, his good time, I shall arrive: He guides me and the bird."

The poets of the past generations may have written much about birds, but it is quite probable that they possessed very little accurate information regarding the service they render to the world. Longfellow alone has bequeathed to us, in his beautiful "Birds of Killingworth," a plea for the preservation of birds because of their practical use to man as well as their æsthetic and spiritual value:

"Plato, anticipating the Reviewers, From his Republic banished without pity The Poets; in this town of yours, You put to death, by means of a Committee, The ballad-singers and the Troubadours, The street musicians of the heavenly city, The birds, who make sweet music for us all In our dark hours, as David did for Saul. · · · · · · · "Think of your woods and orchards without birds! Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams As in an idiot's brain remembered words Hang empty 'mid the cobwebs of his dreams! Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds Make up for the lost music, when your teams Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more The feathered gleaners follow to your door? · · · · · · · "You call them thieves and pillagers; but know They are the winged wardens of your farms, Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe, And from your harvests keep a hundred harms."

During this past century, the period of scientific investigation, birds have received a large share of attention. The immortal pioneers in American Ornithology, Audubon, Wilson, and Nuttall have been followed by a host of scientists who have done work of distinction along various lines. They have described the birds of both fertile and arid regions, as well as far distant lands, such as Alaska and the tundra of the North. They have made complete and valuable collections, the most noted of which are in the National Museum of Washington and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The latter contains famous Habitat Groups with beautiful backgrounds, painted by distinguished bird-artists.

Scientists have studied the anatomy of birds, their eggs, their nests, and nestlings; an army of field-men have been recording observations on migration, on the molt of birds, their songs and call-notes, their food habits, especially with relation to their economic importance. The work of the Biological Survey in the Department of Agriculture at Washington has been of incalculable value; the examination of the contents of birds' stomachs has given indisputable evidence of the relation the different species bear to insect-life and thus to vegetation. The bulletins published by the Department and the leaflets issued by the National Association of Audubon Societies have been enormous factors in the preservation of bird-life in the United States.

Dr. A. K. Fisher, Professor F. E. L. Beal, Dr. Sylvester D. Judd, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Dr. Henry W. Henshaw, Dr. E. W. Nelson, Dr. T. S. Palmer, and Dr. Wells T. Cooke have done work of special distinction in the Biological Survey, Mr. William Brewster and Mr. E. H. Forbush in Massachusetts, and Dr. Frank Chapman in New York.