Citizen Bird Part 5

[Ill.u.s.tration: Outside parts of a bird.]

So saying, the Doctor unrolled a large sheet of drawing-paper that hung on the wall. "Here is a picture of the White-throated Sparrow, drawn so big you can see it almost across the room, with all the outside parts of which you must learn the names. You see the names are all on the picture, too; I am going to make it smaller, and put it in the book I will write for you, so you can look at it whenever you wish.

"It is almost dinner-time now, and you must be very hungry. But now I must tell you one thing more. You know there are so many, many different kinds of birds and other animals that n.o.body could remember them unless they were cla.s.sified. To cla.s.sify is to put things that are most alike closest together, then next nearest them things that are next most alike, and to keep furthest apart those things that are least alike. Now it is true that all beasts, birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, and fishes have some things alike, though each has some other things different from all the rest. If they were not all alike in some things, we could not call them all animals. One of the things in which all the animals I have named are alike is, that they all have skeletons. One of the things in which all their skeletons are alike is, that they have backbones.

Backbones are the chains of bones that run along the back from the head to the tail. Backbones are called by the Wise Men _vertebrae_; animals that have backbones are named _Vertebrates_; and animals that lack backbones are named _Invertebrates_."

"Tell us the names of some Invertebrates, please, Doctor," said Rap.

"Well, all sorts of insects are Invertebrates, and so are lobsters and crabs, oysters and clams, worms, starfishes, jelly-fishes, corals, and even sponges. Then there are some too small to see without a microscope.

But never mind about Invertebrates now. I only want you to remember that all beasts, birds, reptiles, and fishes are Vertebrates, and that there are five princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses of them. If I should tell you as much about them as I have about the Building of a Bird, you would see that they are all built on what we call the Vertebrate plan of structure. Here is a chart of the Cla.s.ses of Vertebrates--you can study it this afternoon, till you learn it by heart."

VERTEBRATES

_Animals with Backbones_

CLa.s.s I. Mammals.--Warm-blooded animals which have fur or hair, bring forth their young alive, and nurse them. House People are Mammals.

CLa.s.s II. Birds.--Warm-blooded animals which have feathers and lay eggs.

CLa.s.s III. Reptiles.--Cold-blooded animals which have scaly skins, like lizards, snakes, and turtles.

CLa.s.s IV. Batrachians.--Cold-blooded animals which have naked skins, like frogs, toads, and newts.

All the foregoing cla.s.ses, except a few of the Batrachians, breathe air in lungs, and almost all, except snakes, have legs; none now living can fly, except bats and birds; but bats are Mammals.

CLa.s.s V. Fishes.--Cold-blooded animals which have either scaly or naked skins, but no fur or feathers; which live in the water, breathe it with their gills, and swim in it with fins.

CHAPTER V

CITIZEN BIRD

The apple trees were in full bloom the day that the Doctor again found time to be with the children. It was exactly the kind of a day that birds like. The ground was soft enough to let the earthworms come up to breathe, so that Robins could catch them easily, and the air was full of all kinds of insects newly out from their long winter sleep in their soft coc.o.o.n beds, much to the delight of the Swallows and Flycatchers.

It was also a beautiful day for House People to watch their bird neighbors; for it was mild but not too bright, and every one knows how it hurts the eyes to look at flying birds with the sun shining in them.

Olive, Dodo, and Nat went out first and found Rap waiting. The Doctor followed, carrying something in his hand in a black leather case. When they arrived at the old tree in the orchard, he told them to look up.

There was the perch arranged as it had been when he was a boy. Not a perch for birds, but for House People--narrow board seats fitted in between the largest branches and a bar fastened across some of the highest ones, so that it was quite safe to climb up and look out of the top of the tree. The branches had been trimmed away here and there, so that a good view could be had of what was happening elsewhere in the orchard. A scream of surprise and delight came from the group, in which Olive joined. Quickly as the children scrambled into the tree, the Doctor was up there first, laughing and saying that it was thirty years since he had climbed that apple tree; for after he went away to college the old seats had decayed and fallen down.

"Give me your hand and I'll help you up," called Nat to Rap, who had dropped his crutch and was looking up at the others.

"No, you needn't," said Rap. "I can climb all right. Sometimes it isn't so handy for me, but other times it's easier, for in tight places one leg doesn't take up as much room as two;" and he swung and pushed until he was up as high as the rest.

"Here's a nest with eggs in it," whispered Dodo, who had crept out on a limb, where a rather large round nest, made of gra.s.s and little sticks plastered together with mud, was saddled on the branch--in fact, a Robin's nest.

"Four lovely smooth eggs, not quite blue and not quite green! Please, can I have them? I saw them first."

"Think a minute, Dodo," said the Doctor. "A bird will come from each of those eggs. Suppose you take the eggs away from the poor Robins, you will be killing four young birds, besides hurting the feelings of their parents and making them leave the orchard, very likely. You must not take any eggs in the nesting season--not even one. I will tell you what happened once in a field where there were some birds' nests in the bushes.

"The man who owned the field was fond of birds and wished to protect them, but he was so good-natured that when his little boy came to him and said, 'I wish so much to have some birds' eggs--all the boys collect them--_please_ let me take a few, father--only on our own land,' he did not wish to say 'No.' Sometimes, to be good-natured is as bad as to be cruel. This man said, 'You may take one egg from each nest, but only _one_, remember.' So the boy went out and took a few eggs, but then he carried them to school, showed them to the other boys, and told them where they came from. Then each boy said to himself, 'It will be all right if I take only one egg from each nest.' But when four or five boys had each taken one, all the nests were quite empty. So the poor birds left that man's field, where the bugs and worms grew and throve, till they ate up his hay and all the rest of his crops.

"When the nesting season is over eggs that have not hatched are often left in the various nests, that you can take without doing any harm. Of course I know it is not easy to keep your hands off such pretty things as birds' eggs; but if by doing so you can be patriotic and useful, it is an act of self-denial that you will be glad to do for the good of the country."

"What is in that black case, uncle?" asked Dodo. "Is it a pistol to shoot birds? I think it looks too fat for that."

"Not the kind of a pistol that you mean, Dodo, but the only kind that you youngsters need to bring down birds so that you can see them. It is a double-barrelled gun, but you must use your eyes for bullets, instead of leaden b.a.l.l.s. See!"--and he took a fine pair of field-gla.s.ses from the case, moved the screw a little, and held them before Dodo's eyes--"what do you see down there in the gra.s.s?"

"Why, it's a Robin, but how big it looks! Every feather shows by itself, and it has white rings round its eyes like spectacles. I never saw them before, I'm sure."

Then, as the Doctor handed the gla.s.ses to Nat, Dodo looked in her lap, expecting to find the bird there instead of a hundred feet away.

"This is jolly!" cried Nat, taking a peep and pa.s.sing the gla.s.ses to Rap, who put them to his eyes, gave a little "ah," and looked through them until the Doctor said, "That will do now. Olive shall keep the gla.s.ses, and whenever you children want them she will give them to you; but you must be careful never to scratch them or rub your fingers over the lenses at either end. With this magnifying instrument you will be able to see the shape of beaks and wings, and many color markings you would never notice otherwise. But what did I promise to tell you of to-day, children?"

"Citizen Bird, you said," replied Nat, "though I don't think I quite know what you mean."

"What does _citizen_ mean?" asked the Doctor, smiling.

"I think it is a person who lives in a city, but birds aren't people and they don't live much in the city."

"You are right in one sense, my boy, but the word _citizen_ has also a far wider meaning. Do you know what it is, Olive?" But Olive was not sure, and the Doctor asked her to go to his study and look for the word in the big dictionary.

In a few minutes she returned with a slip of paper from which her father read: "Citizen--a member of a nation, especially of a republic; one who owes allegiance to a government and is ent.i.tled to protection from it."

"Now, if you listen carefully I think I can prove to you that every bird you can find is such a citizen of this country, and show you why we should protect him.

"I told you the other day how the body of a bird was planned and built to fill a place no other animal could take. Thus by his habits and character every bird fills a place as a citizen of our Republic, keeping the laws and doing work for the land that House People, with all their wisdom, cannot do. Every such fellow-animal of ours, besides having eyes to see with, and a brain which, if it does not tell him as many things as our brains tell us, yet teaches him all that he need know to follow the laws that Heart of Nature has set for him, has the same feelings and affections as ourselves. Parent birds love each other and their little ones, and often lose their lives in trying to protect them. They build their homes with as much care and skill as House People use in making theirs. Then they work hard, very hard indeed, to collect food to feed their children, for bird children are, oh, so hungry! They grow very quickly, and must eat constantly from morning until night.

"With them it is breakfast, luncheon, dinner, five-o'clock tea, and supper, with a great many other meals between times that would not be wholesome for House Children. So you can see for yourselves that we may well call the bird a fellow-being."

"Yes," said Rap, his eyes beaming as if he had something to tell, "some birds work as hard as mother does. I watched a pair of Robins all one day last spring, when I was sick. They had a nest in a bush by our kitchen window, where I could see it well, and all day long either the mother or the father came about every two minutes with something for the little ones to eat. I timed them by the clock until I was nearly dizzy, and they seemed to do the same thing every day until the young ones flew away. Then they went over to the grape vines, made a new nest, and raised four more the same way"--and then Rap stopped suddenly, as if he feared that he had been talking too much.

"That is all true," said the Doctor, looking very happy at finding that one of his listeners not only saw for himself but remembered and thought about what he had seen. "If you have used your eyes so well, my lad, when we come to the bird stories I shall expect you to tell some of them yourself." And the Doctor held out his hand to the child with a look that sent him to bed to dream happy dreams for many a night.

The children gazed at Rap in surprise. It was a new idea that a poor little fellow like him should know more than they, who had both parents and nice clothes, and had been to school in a big city. That he should be able to tell stories about birds seemed wonderful. But they were not selfish, and instead of being jealous felt a great respect for Rap.

"Now," said the Doctor, "we will see what a good neighbor to House People a bird is, and how in working for himself he helps them also."

"How can birds possibly work to help people?" asked Dodo and Nat together; but Rap smiled to himself as if he knew something about the matter, and said, "They eat the bugs and worms and things that kill the gardens and fields."

"You are right again," said the Doctor heartily. "What is one thing that man and every other animal must have to keep him alive?"

"_Food_!" shouted Nat, and then grew very red, as the others laughed, because since he had been at Orchard Farm his appet.i.te had grown so that though he ate twice as much as Olive and Dodo he seemed always hungry.

"Yes, food. Bread, meat, vegetables, and fruits, but bread first of all.

What is bread made of?"