File:Birds and nature (1905) (14751475995).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature11905chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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are uttered,its tail is either jerked from side to sideor up and down with every articulation. Mr. Osbert Salvin tells this curiousanecdote of the Mot Mot: Some yearsago the Zoological Society possessed aspecimen which lived in one of thelarge cages of the parrot house byitself. I have a very distinct recollec-tion of the bird, for I used every time Isaw it to cheer it up a bit by whistlingsuch of its notes as I had picked up inthe forests of America. Tlie bird al-ways seemed to appreciate this atten-tion, for although it never replied, itbecame at once animated, hopped aboutthe cage, and swung its tail from sideto side like the pendulum of a clock.For a long time its tail had perfectspatules, but toward the end of its lifeI noticed that the median feathers wereno longer trimmed with such precision,and on looking at its beak I noticedthat from some cause or other it didnot close properly, gaped slightly at thetip, and had thus become unfitted forremoving the vanes of the feathers. 74
Text Appearing After Image:
MEXICAN MOT MOT. (Momotus swainsoni). % Life-size. COPrRfGHT 190n, BV *. W. MUMFOHD, CHICAGO AMONG THE TREES. THE OAK TREE. Mabel was standing beneath the wide-spreading branches of an oak tree. Thebreeze was playing with the leaves,which, swaying to and fro, cast fan-tastic shadows on the grass at her feet.Beautiful, fleecy clouds were floating-overhead; the liquid notes of an oriolewere borne upon the breeze, and shestood watching its dainty form andgorgeous plumage, as it flitted frombranch to branch. She was in a halfdreamy state which was Miss itself.The oak tree brushed her face withsome of its leaves, at which she laughedmerrily. T have been reading TennysonsTalking Oak, and have come. OakTree, to listen to your beautiful legendsand family history if you will tell themto me. She seated herself comfort-ably on a small knoll, and looked in-tently at the great mass of foliage. Asudden rustling of leaves, and she fan-cied she heard the Oak Tree say: *T have been wishing to talk to

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