Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No. 4, April 1899

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Various. Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No. 4, April 1899

THE NUTMEG

AN ABANDONED HOME

THE AMERICAN BARN OWL

A SPRINGTIME

THE KANGAROO

INVITATION TO THE REDBREAST

FEATHERS

VISION AND SCENT OF VULTURES

THE HOARY BAT

THE COMING OF SPRING

THE NASHVILLE WARBLER

CHIEF SIMON POKAGON

NATURE AT FIRST HAND

THE QUAILS' QUADRILLE

THE GRAPE

PROSE POEMS OF IVAN TURGENIEF

THE BLUEBIRD

THE FIRST BLUEBIRD

THE KIT FOX

AMONG ANIMALS

SPRING FASHIONS

BIRDS THAT DO NOT SING

THE HYACINTH

A QUARREL BETWEEN JENNY WREN AND THE FLYCATCHERS

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WELL," said Jenny Sparrow one fine day in April, as she fluttered from bough to bough in a maple tree near my study-window, "spring is advancing and already the housewives are bustling about busy from morning till night. Such fetching and carrying of grass and straw and feathers! Mamma concluded to build a new house this spring but papa said the old homestead would do, with new furnishings. Papa always has his way; he's such a tyrant. I'm a fortunate creature that I have no such cares, I'm sure. Mamma says I may as well sing and fly high while youth and beauty last, for my troubles will begin soon enough. Troubles! The idea of my having trouble! Old people must croak, I suppose, and would really be disappointed if their children failed to experience the trials they have.

"I often wonder if papa strutted and bowed and swelled himself out as my suitors do, when he courted mamma. Now he does nothing but scold, and I never make an unusually fine toilet but he shakes his head, and lectures mamma on the sin of idleness and vanity. I'm not vain, I'm sure. I only feel strong and happy, and when I'm challenged by a neighbor's sons and their ugly sisters for a long flight or graceful curve, I would be a silly creature indeed if I didn't display my accomplishments to good advantage.

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The courtship was brief, as is the custom with our feathered friends, and so the wedding took place in a few days. The bride received the blessing of her parents for a dot and the groom a shrug of the shoulders and the comforting assurance from his father that he was a "ninny" and not aware when he was well off.

All went merry as a marriage bell for a season, Mr. Britisher twittering daily in soft low tones his prettiest love songs and his spouse listening in proud complacency as she oiled her feathers and curled them prettily with her bill.

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