The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 5, 1901, Page 7

THE SUNDAY CALL. in our midst, but here Can't we singing. Zroup of songbirds, e fellows that make ing in reason with chi or some y of our to sing nderstand, for r and of cli- es them. But for rain from singing r flowers and our how can he? em—that happy bird ith music. The the catbird and all make titutes for nding tourist cals and sneers fall sure they upon n he has but 1 a land where e birds don't sing and there are no ng harps he street corners The tour- like wanting his Te fee! is compelled to hang her y concede the fact. comers, even of the days osed to be hypercritical ertaining to soil and cli- ong birds omise of its capa- pect of unpromising outlook for hopet 1 develc ion of the ¢ ities, ical com- ; bat the dered an arid rose; but bird continues to Lo habeti uage He has not developed It used to be an orism that Cali- fornia was a place where “the flowers were without perfume and the birds with- out song.” time the cri with- fication to a e exte: Car- the whol gh the a profusion ce of the country ar nths of the year of wild flowers they s practically without per- fume other than the aromatic, spicy odor now s r to all who live among them. Since then, however, the capabil- of the country for thé production of flower that grows has been so tested that the whole face of na- s become a garden of beauty and that 15 wafted across it is ghtful perfume from the at adorn its surface. ng” tird still refuses to were neverthe every wide possible that all the Pattis and Sembrichs of the feath- are so unfortunate as to come out here to try ack? If so, it is rather who m b rist has changed the face taught flowers how to their fragrance as all should do; may not and upon these feath- and see if he cannot h of the adage, “Birds d won't sing must be ures ng made to sing Wit wealth of vegetation, gen- tle nd apparent capabilities of being the natural home of song birds, why ghould the voices of mearly all of them be comparatively silent? We listen in vain for the flood of bird melody that welcomes the rising sun and glorifies the evenings of the East. We hear the mel- encholy complaint of the mourning dove, varied sometimes with the brief note of clim: BRovn THRASHER the lark and the chirp of the sparrow and his congeners of the tree and shrub— and that is all! It would be profitless, perhaps, to in- quire into the why and wherefore of this bird silence in California, but it ought not to be a profitless task to endeavor to introduce song birds here, not only to the hearts of the people with thelr melodies, but perhaps to become the educators of those of like species who as yet refuse to s but whose ties have possibly never vet had suitable opportunity for devel- opment. gladden Import, teachers. Send here bird teachers from the East. Our California birds have never had advantages. not give them a chance to get in on the culture proposition that is elevating the human inhabitants of our land? Isn’t it a good idea? And it is not an unfeasible idea. Call fornia stocked her streams and bays wit fish origir to these water: Foreign p! 4 well with 3 ourselves who come from the East become yrtably here and the cli- acclimated grow fat. mate are all fi law the im- 1t properly ported birds t simply be brought here and set free in our hills and v: s. They would thrive on the plant and insect life found there, mate and rear their youag. With all these things their favor the cultured bird of the East would thrive and multiply; his silent brother of the ic slope.would hear and admire; the instinct of imitation would lead him to attempt the same vocal feats; a triumph would have been achieved and a new song put into the mouth of the little chap who for so long had known nothing but a chirp. of forestry since would doubtiess successful introduc- tion of s it would also tend to preserve in them their one peculiar at- arge increase occupation tribute; since it m: be set down as a well established fact in nature that nearly every s bird seeks a tree or shrub from which to pour forth its melodies and few ever attempt to do so from the ground. Perhaps the nakedness of the country in the matter of forestry orjgin- ally had much to do with silencing the voices of our native birds, which in name, plumage, habits and general appearance are the same as their counterparts of oth- er lands; but that is a question for sci- entists to discuss. Some examples of well-known singing birds in other States and their silent con- geners here may, however, be cited and compared with profitable results. The familiar member of the thrush fam- {ly known in the East as the “robin” fur- nishes an interesting example. His ac- complishments as a singer are familiar o | every one a east of the Rocky Moun- ta‘ns. One of the most welcome of all inging birds that there usher in the spring, he is also one of the most useful as an insect destroyer and therefore an ally always to be counted upon for friend- 1y and adventitious aid by the farmer and horticulturist. Famous as a song bird to an extent that has made him the favorite of the poet and the pastoral writer, he brings cheer to every household and is fostered and beloved by all. But what of his namecsake here, his - gr relation,” as it were? never utters a note, except a chirp of alarm or a wild scream of fear when protecting his young from attack. ‘When “Cock Robin” of the East is fill- ing the air with melodies from some tall tree at sunset, his counterpart of Cali- fornia is silent in the thicket, engaged in digesting the most recently captured worm preparatory to tucking his head be- neath his wing to sleep and wait for an- other silent morrow. Br'er Robin needs a teacher! Undoubtedly he has a voice of some kind, Why not give him a chance to de- velop it under a competent instructor? Upon the subject of the Imitative fac- ulty in birds all authorities on ornithology th agree; so there can be mo doubt that it would be aroused and developed among our native birds if the example were only set before them of others of their own species gifted with the pdwer of song. And our lark is another illustration. In the East he is a rare singer; out here he gurgles. 2 Perhaps he is suffering from some tu- berculosis; but rather is it more probable that he merely suffers from ignorance and years of continual lack of a melodious example. His note is not unmusical, but it is such a funny, ridiculous little gurgle that it sounds amusing, compared with the clear, sweet slurred notes of his Eastern brother. Just two prolonged notes of a quality m y sufficient to arouse in one the de- sire to hear a greater variety and more of it, but wholly unsatisfactory in its limited ra And yet the lark's song preper is worthy cf admiration and un- of voice and modulation,” say rnest 8. Thompson in his “Birds of Manito “the lark equals or excels both wood thrush and nightingale; in the beauty of its articulation it no superior in the whole world of thered choristers with which I am ac- quainted.” . Surely with such evidence before us, the proper musical education of our own larks would seem to be worthy of consideration and energetic action. The comparison of the song of the lark with that of the wood thrush furnishes another reminder of the possibilities in this direction. Here the latter is a silent . age, whose vocal re; (S roe/ V= and shy bird, lovely in his mottled plum- age and just such an ideal bird figure as might be leoked to for singing quality. Alas! he utters no note that can be de- seribed or remembered; while in the East he is held in high esteem as one of the finest, and by many set down as the supe- rior of all ““the merry laughing birds” that inhabit that reg! Even the blackbird—he of the golden wing and brightly burnished, inky plum- gister is here limited tc an utterance half-way between the chirp of a sparrow and the croak of a crow—is none the less worthy of an op- portunity for voice devélopment and cul- tivation. As the old-time poet has It, The blackbird Is singing on Michigan's shore As sweetly and gaily as ever before, And it will be no difficult task to import teachers for this large class who would around them thousands of dusky- that soon might rival the song spe “on Michigan's shore” and give inspiration to the poet here to wel- e the singer and glorify song. :t it is not alone through the introduc- tion of song birds wha congeners find habitat here, but which are silent, that benefit is to be derived. The field is open for others not known here at all and with a world-wide fame as singers. A few ex- amples need only be cited here. The catbird, known to every country boy in New Eugland, has been well de- scribed as “the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" of birds, because of his opposites of char- acteristics and habits. Draped in sober slate-colored garb that disguises his ec- centricities, he is appropriately set down call hued their as “a jester, a caricaturist, a mocking- bird.” Deriving the name by which he is commonly known from his distinctive ability and proclivity to mew like a cat, he is, nevertheless, a very prince of song, and a mimic who can rival the mocking- bird in his best efforts at rollicking bird music. He is a deadly enemy of injurious insects, harmless in his every habit of life. He would indeed be a useful and valuable acquisition that the State would be glad to foster and protect. It would be hard to disassociate the | ID vou ever stop to think of the ‘ D wonderful organization that in- ! sures the regular transmission of | every little letter, and its final safe ! delivery to its owner, even at the re- | motest ends of the world, the crowded for- | eign city, or the solitudes of the mountain | or the forest? You cannot go to a point 30 | isolated as to be beyond the ministrations :of the posioffice; but in some foreign coun- | tries you would find very strange messcn- | gers and methods emploved. % In our country the system is so admir- ably organized that the work of the letter carrier ceases to have any individuality. If you were to cross the ocean, however, and visit some of the countries of Asia you would see some verv queer postmen. In Northern India, among the Himalayas, letters are carried by native runners at the end of a cleft stick. Sometimes one of the postmen will travel a hundred milcs to convey his precious missive, the letter being delivered in as clean a condition as when it started. The commonest type of Indian postrun- ner, or “Tappal-wallah,” wears a long white coat, very light trousers, and a huge light-blue turban. His letter-bag is slung from his shoulder, and he carries a long stick with a sharp iron point, which can be used as a weapon in case of need, The stick is adorned with six little brass bells, which serves to give notice of the ap- proach of the post. If you were in Japan you would see lithe, wiry runners, with very little cloth- ing on their brown bodies, darting here and there among the crowd. Everybody gives way before them, for they are the postment of the empire. Their mail is carried in small baskets strapped to their sides. They are capable of sustaining a good dedl of fatigue, and make wondertui journeys at times. Among the placid Chinese hurry is a form of vulgar impatience, consequently very little dispatch is used in carrying the mails in that great empire. They are can- tent to convey all ordinary communica- tions either by slow paddling or poling boats, or else by foot-runners, whose hign sounding title of ‘‘the-thousand-mile- horse” does not quicken their pace ba- yond about twelve miles in twenty-four hours. They carry a paper lantern and a paper umbrella, and their letter-bag is secured to the back by a cloth knotted across the chesat. Among the ruost plcturesque letter-car- rlers of the world are the “Camel Express Messengers” of Eckhara. The men wear a serviceable red uniform, and a large green Strange Postmen of Foreign Lands. turban embroidered with gold' thread. From theédr girdle hangs a curved saber in a red sheath. The camels are adorned with trappings of gay cloth and tassels ornamented with blue heads and cowrie shells, and with small brass bells round their neck to give notice of their ap- proach. The rough and rapid trotting of | these animals, sometimes at the rate of | eighty miles a day, is so trving to the riders as to shorten thcir lives. Of vehicles, we find every concelvable variety used to ald th2 post-runner in his labor. In Natal the post cart is a light four-horse vehicle, not much to look at, but capital as a means of getting over vile roads with deep ruts. In the mountain district of Brazil a two-wheeled wagor, drawn by oxen, is in use, the wheels being cut out of a solfd block and fastened to the axle. \ In some parts of Russia buffaloes har- nessed to two-wheeled vehicles carry the postmen on their road, but more frequent.- 1y mail sledges are drawn by horses, by reindeer or in the far north by dogs. The latter we find again in Canada—as for instance, in the mail service between Selkirk and Lake Winnipeg, where the work is done by trains of letter-sleighs, each drawn by three dogs, harnessed in single file. MEADOW LARK, “brown thresher,” or “red mavis,” as it is sometimes called, from the catbird, so intimate are they in haunts and habits, even if unlike in form and plumage. In song this bird ranks among the foremost in bird life though not possessing the faculty of mimicking like the catbird. He also would be a valuable acquisition and doubtless could be readily acclimated and made to increase and multiply here. And why not introduce that harlequin of song birds, the dainty morsel of the epicure, the bobolink? Surely for part of the year at east he would find a con- genial home in the tule marshes of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, where, as | the “reedbird” of the Middle States and the “rice bird” of the South he would at | least furnish toothsome tidbits for the gourmand, if he did not abide with us and furnish us with the music of his musically Jjangling voice. Writers and poets have extolled the quaint beauty of the song of the bobo- link, "and no boy ever listened to it with- out a sensation of delight that faunted him. The song sparrow is that cheerful little body whose song the Massachusetts girls say—according to Thoreau—is: Maids, maids, maids; Hang on your tea kettle, ettle! He is a source of never-failing delight there in his season and would doubtless becomes so here the whole year round. His song, as compared to the short, sharp chirp of our own sparrows, is as piccolo to the child's toy whistle. The nights in Granada—soft air and the passionate voice of the guitar mingling with the nightingale’s song among the orange trees! ‘Whoever has traveled in the south of Spain and lingered through restful days in the month of May among the groves af the Alhambra has heard the nightingale in his most delightful song and at his very best. He will not fail to have observed also a striking similarity in climate and natural formation which that sec of tea kettle—ettle— WINGED BLACKBIRD, the world exhibits in comperison with California. It would not require a wide stretch of the imagination to conceive that the scene was laid in California and that the red-tiled roofs and Moorish effects of tha surrounding structures were but a re- production of an old mission scene—on a much grander scale, to be sure, but still California in its general effect. Why, then, since the two countries are 50 alike, may not the nightingale find here a home as congenial and as conducive to its best vocal efforts as In the leafy groves around the old Moorish palaces? And why not include this primo of all the feathered songsters if any effort is to be made for thelr introduction here? None are more worthy of the experiment than this incomparable bird. He will bring with him a very tempest of song of his own and will repeat from one end of the gamut to the other all the notes of the whole army of woodland warblers that will gather in his train; for no greater mimic exists than he and none can boast of a wider and more charming repertoire of his own. There's a bower of roses by Bendermeer's stream, And the nightingale sings thers all the day long, says Tom Moore. ‘While there is doubtless more poetry than truth in these oft-repeated lines there is certainly more truth than poetry in the assertion that there are bowers of roses all over his enchanted land that the nightingale would seek out for his favorite haunts and pour forth a flood of melody that no one of his kind “by Bendermeer’s stream” could ever hope to rival. These are but a few of the great host of feathered songsters who might hers find genial environment and climatic in- ducement for a ceaseless display of their vocal powers. The list, if elaborated in full, weuld be a long one indeed; for na- ture, elsewhere if not here, has been lav- ish in her gifts of song to the birds. Just why she should have adopted here the rule that they, like little children, “should be seen and not heard,” is a riddle too difficult to solve, but as in this instance _she has in frequent practice demonstrated that there is an available remedy for the evil thus inflicted upon us it will beé strange, indeed, if we longer hesitate to adopt it, for aside from the ethical aspect of the proposition there is to be condid- ered the purely utilitarian point of view. In the increase of insect destroyers which would be obtained by the further increase in population. of song birds, the State at large would be a gainer in annual monéy value, far, very far beyond the original expenditure that may have to be made to carry the idea into practical e fect. California is called the Land of Sun- shine; let it also be the Land of Song. The first paper money used in this coun- try was issued by Pennsylvania in 172. In the early part of that year £15000 was issued on the credit of the colony, and a few months Fater £30,000 more wed.