HAWK'S CHALLENGE Ꮤ 'INTER or Summer, what care I?— The tilled or the untilled plain? My lot is cast in the blue abyss, And the lordly sun's domain. I mount at will to the peak of heaven, I exult that I am free! KO, kileo, ye groundlings born, Of the tribes that reap and sow,— Blesing and ban to me are one, As up and aloft I go! There are quaking hearts below, I ween, For this black shape in the sky; For the Hawk's breed has a Hawk's blood, And a Hawk of the Hawks am I. Ko, keeo, kileo, keeo! A Hawk of the Hawks am I! -Dora Read Goodale. THE HAWK A LIFE at every meal, rapacious hawk! -Troth, pleasant talk! Yon swallow snaps more lives up in a day HOW TO GO A-BIRDING T HAS seemed to me that, instead of calling on the birds personally, it might be pleasant to tell how to conduct our visits and observations. What is the modus operandi of bird study? We would suggest, first, that one should go a-birding with his heart. Nature requires undivided attention. She can brook no rival if you would win from her the choice secrets of her being. If you give her only half a mind, she will give you but half of her revelation. You must give her your confidence before she will become communicative. Dismiss your ledgers, your politics, your family wrangles, the annoyances of the schoolhouse, from your thought when you go consorting with Nature. You must have a bird in the heart if you would see and appreciate the bird in the bush. It is the heart, too, that 'sharpens the eyes. Not all persons can become bird students because not all have the requisite enthusiasm; not all are enrapport. Odd as it may appear, I would say, do not be too scientific. Not one word would I utter in disparagement of the specialist and the technical student, providing he feels certain that he can add something new and valuable to science; but for popular amateur bird study I should protest against the slaughter of feathered innocents either for identification or structural research. Do not look upon birds as mere anatomical specimens. You need not kill and dissect birds to know all that is necesary about their structure; for there are many scientific books that will tell you all about their physiology and anatomy. Study birds as sentient creatures, as interesting individuals, with wonderful instinct and intelligence. The bird anatomist loves science more than he loves birds, or he would never want to kill them and take them apart. If you really love the birds you will want to study them just as they are in their outdoor haunts, where they obey the impulses of their volatile nature. To do this a good opera glass is a requisite. It partly annihilates distance, and brings the bird up to your eyes. You should get one with a large eye-piece, for with a small one you will find some difficulty in focussing the binocular upon the desired object. Be sure to avoid a glass that has bright colors, which will reflect the gleam of the sun into your eyes. Dark colors are best. A bird key or manual is indispensible for purposes of identification. Somehow, you cannot enjoy the bird's society until you know its cognomen. A bird's name may even be very inapt, and yet-well, there is something in a name, even if it seems un-Shakespearian to say so. It is a wonderful satisfaction to know that the flitting piece of diminution in yonder tree is a golden-crowned kinglet, and not a warbler or a vireo. I refer to the English names now in vogue among scientific men. *** Do you ask when you had better begin the study of birds? Now! In bird study, as in most right pursuits, "now is the accepted time." -Leander S. Keyser. |