Part 4

In the Iliad, at four of the critical points in the story a bird appears and shows the will of the gods to mortals. It is related that before the Greeks sailed to Troy, while the ships were yet assembled at Aulis, one of these omens occurred and was interpreted thus: Near the ships was an altar and by the altar stood a plane-tree, upon the bough of which a little bird had built its nest, and already within the nest were nine fledglings. Suddenly a serpent darted forth from beneath the altar straight toward the tree; the nine little birds were soon devoured and at last the serpent ended his feast by catching the mother which had flown crying about it. At once the serpent was turned into stone. This wonderful prodigy was shown by one of the prophets to mean that for nine years the Greeks would toil fruitlessly before Troy as the serpent had devoured the nine little birds; but in the tenth year they would seize the city.

The flight of birds was watched and upon this rested often the movements of whole armies. As the seer had foretold for nine years the Greeks had been fighting before the walls of Troy; their ships were drawn up on the shore of the sea and before them they had built a wall and dug a ditch for protection. The nine years had passed, the tenth year was already going by and never had the people from the beleaguered city dared to approach their ships. But now, after so many years, all was changed. The great hero of the Greeks, the great swift-footed Achilles, was angry and refused to fight for them and sat apart at the stern of his ship on the shore of the barren sea wearing out his heart with anger. Now the Trojans, never before so successful, had reached the wall and were encamped there for the night. The Greeks felt that it was necessary to send out spies to observe the movements of their foes. Diomede volunteered his services and chose Odysseus for his comrade. They crept away from their companions in the darkness but had gone only a few steps when the cry of a Heron was heard on their right. This meant good luck for them, for they knew that Athene, the protecting goddess of Odysseus, had sent this favoring sign, and it proved true, for their sally was prospered and they returned unharmed, having slain thirteen of the enemy, and bringing as booty a noble pair of steeds, a prize in which all Greeks took delight.

Even in Homer we see the dawning of skepticism, a skepticism of which we approve and the sentiment of which we cannot but admire. The next day after the favorable sign of Athene to her favorite, after nine long years of terrible war the Trojans stand at the very edge of the ditch before the Greek ships. Hector their noble leader, a hero who may well inspire modern men to noble deeds of patriotism, stands at their head. One rush more, one impetuous dash through the ditch and against the wall, and the ten years' war may be ended with the weary Trojans victors. But at this critical moment a bird appears, it is the favorite bird in Homer and also the favorite bird with us, for it is our national bird, the Eagle. Homer calls it the bird that is surest to bring fulfillment with its omens and tells us that it belonged to mighty Zeus the thunderer, the ruler of gods and men. The bird appeared flying at the left. The people halted. A bird flying at the left meant disapproval. It held in its mouth a snake not yet dead, which, coiling its head, bit at the breast of the bird. The bite was effective, and with a sharp cry, the bird dropped the serpent at the feet of the awe-inspired Trojans and fled shrieking away. Well might the people halt. What was to be done, an onward move against such a portent, or a calm withdrawal when everything was in their favor? One of the common people declared that they must withdraw or death would come upon them. Then noble Hector with frowning brows answered him: "Polydamas, no longer do you speak words pleasing to me. You know how to speak another word better than this. If you speak this truly in earnest, the gods themselves have taken away your senses from you who bid me to forget the counsels of high-thundering Zeus, the promises he made me and the plans to which he nodded assent. You bid me put my trust in long-winged birds which I do not heed or regard at all, whether they fly to the right toward the sun and the dawn, or to the left toward the murky darkness. Let us trust the counselings of great Zeus who holds sway over gods and men. One bird is the best to defend one's fatherland."

In the last book of the Iliad in the sad scenes surrounding the death and burial of this hero we have again an omen. Priam, the aged, feeble man, determined to go to the strange, wrathful Achilles and beg for the body of his dear son Hector, which the swift-footed hero had been mutilating in his wrath, dragging it behind his chariot about the city walls. Priam was determined to go. His wife tried to dissuade him from such a dangerous undertaking, he bade her not to be a bird of ill omen in his halls, but she insisted, and finally persuaded him to pray to Zeus to send him an omen that his journey would be successful. He prayed; thereupon an Eagle appeared flying at his right. Hecuba was now satisfied and the old lord of windy Troy started out on his errand of love. The omen was true this time for he did persuade the heart of Achilles and returned to his city with the remains of his son.

There are other instances of omens given by the presence and flight of birds, but these are sufficient to show us the great importance which the men of two thousand years ago attributed to them. Although birds are most prominent in Homer in this connection, still we find them mentioned many times just as parts of the physical world and without divine import. Among the birds thus mentioned we find names which our scholars have interpreted to designate Cranes, Meadow Larks, Jackdaws, Geese, Swans, Nighthawks, Vultures, and Eagles. Birds are especially noted for their quickness in flight, and the horses were most prized which flew like the birds. Birds were always mentioned in connection with the dead, and a favorite curse was to wish that one might be left a prey to the dogs and birds.

Gods often honored this part of the animal world by assuming their forms. We find Athene and Apollo in the likeness of Vultures settling down upon the Oak tree to watch the battle of the Greeks and Trojans. Sleep watches the wiles of Juno toward her lord while he sits as a Nighthawk upon a tree. But Homer is essentially a poet, and in many places a nature-poet, and in these touches of nature he does not forget the birds, but very often compares the movements of his heroes to them.

"As a tawny Eagle darts upon the flocks of winged birds feeding by the river, flocks of Geese, of Cranes, of long-necked Swans, so Hector darted upon them."

"The Trojans went with hue and cry--like the birds when the cry of the Cranes is in the front of heaven, who, when they flee from the winter and portentous storms, with cries fly to the streams of Oceanus bearing death and fate to the Pygmies, and at dawn they bear forth with them their evil strife."

"As a bird bears a morsel for its unfledged young whenever it obtains any, but fares badly itself, so I have toiled for other men and gained naught myself."

"As many flocks of birds, of Geese, Cranes, long-necked Swans, in an Asian meadow by the banks of the Cayster fly hither and thither exulting in their wings as they settle down with cries and the meadow reëchoes, so flocks of men poured from the tents and ships into the plain of the Scamander."

"As a flock of Meadow Larks or Jackdaws comes with full, unbroken cry when they see before them a Hawk which bears destruction to small birds, so with full, unbroken cry went the youths of the Achæans before Æneas and Hector."

SUMMARY.

Page 206.

=AFRICAN LION=--_Felis leo capensis_.

RANGE--All over central and southern Africa from the western to the eastern coast, and as far north as the 20th degree of northern latitude.

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Page 210.

=CACTI=--(1) _Echinocadus Le Contii_, Tempe, Arizona. (2) _Mamillaria Sheerii_, Nogales, Arizona.

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Page 214.

=AMERICAN FLYING SQUIRREL=--_Pteromys volucella_.

RANGE--All over the United States and Central America.

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Page 218.

=HUMMING-BIRDS=--(1) _Lampornis gramineus_, Venezuela. (2) _Petasophora Anais_, Columbia. (3) White-tailed Hummer.

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Page 223.

=SILK-WORM=--_Bombyx mori_. Originally from China.

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Page 227.

=CALIFORNIA VULTURE=--_Pseudogryphus californianus_. Other name: California Condor.

RANGE--Coast ranges of southern California from Monterey Bay southward into Lower California; formerly north to Frazer River.

NEST--On the bare floor of a cave in a lofty precipice.

EGG--One.

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Page 230.

=AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE=--_Glaucionetta clangula americana_. Other names: Whistler, Whistle Wing, Brass-eyed Whistler, Great Head, Garrot.

RANGE--North America, nesting from our northern boundaries to the far south, and wintering in the United States southward to Cuba.

NEST--In hollow trees, lined with grass, leaves, and moss.

EGGS--Six to ten, ashy green in color.

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Page 233.

=AMERICAN SKUNK=--_Mephitis varians_.

RANGE--Extensive, being most plentiful near Hudson Bay, whence it is distributed southward.

INDEX.

VOLUME IV.--JULY TO DECEMBER, 1898.

A Bloodless Sportsman, 39

A Book By the Brook, 39

Acorn, Thirty Miles for an, 29

African Folk Lore, 12

Ah Me!, 113

Alaska, Birds of, 95

All Nature, 37

Almond, Flowering (_Amygdalus communis_), 193-5

Animals and Music, 159

Animals' Rights, 225

Animals, Some Propensities of, 81

Animals, Talk of, 140

Animals and Water, 84

Animal World, In the, 136

Antelope, The Pigmy (_Antilope pigmea_), 94-95

Apple Blossoms, 36

Armadillo as a Pet, 12

Armadillo (_Tatusia novemcincta_), 146-7

Autumn, 132

Azamet, the Hermit, and His Dumb Friends, 33

Bat, Black (_Scotophilus carolinensis_)}, 170-1

Bat, Red (_Atalapha noveboracensis_) }, 170-1

Bats, Tame, 168

Birds, 163

Bird, A Little, 162

Bird Courtship, 164

Birds Foretell Marriage, 16

Birds in the Garden and Orchard, 153

Birds in the Iliad, 234

Birds Mentioned in the Bible, 48

Bird of Paradise, The King (_Cincinnurus regius_), 124-7

Birds, Sleeping Places of, 164

Birds and Animals of the Philippines, 48

Birds, Reasoning Powers of, 43

Birds in Storms, 163

Bobolink's Song, 61

Butterfly, The, 142

Butterflies, 102

Butterflies (illustrations), 23, 63, 103, 143, 183, 223

Butterflies, How Protected, 62

Butterfly Trade, 22

Butterflies Love to Drink, 182

Cactus (_Echinocadus le Contii_) (_Mamillaria Sheerii_), 210-11

Christmas Trees, 220

Color Photographs and Conversation Lessons, 194

Constantinople, From, 158

Count? Can Animals, 180

Country, A Gameless, 229

Dolphin, The Bottlenose (_Tursiops tursio_), 134-5

Doves of Venice, 100

Ears, 121

Eyes, 117

Farewell, The Turkey's, 162

Fern, The Petrified, 83

Flowers, The Death of the, 189

Flowers, The Use of, 34

Fox, The American Gray (_Vulpes virginianus_), 105-7

Fox, The Red (_Vulpes fulvus_), 66-9

Golden-eye, American (_Glaucionetta clangula americana_), 230-1

Golden-rod (_Solidago Virga-aurea_), 154-5

Grouse, Prairie Sharp-tailed (_Pediocætes phasianellus campestris_), 166-167

Gull, Herring (_Larus argentatus Smithsonianus_), 86-7

Hawk, Red-shouldered (_Buteo lineatus_), 96-9

Hen, Prairie (_Tympanucus americanus_), 18-19

Humming-birds (1 _Lampornis gramineus_) (2 _Pelasophora anais_) (3 _White-tailed_), 216-19

Instinct and Reason, 73

Lion, African (_Felis leo_), 206-7

Loon, The (_Urinator imber_), 58-9

Midsummer, 65

Miscellany, 109

Mocking-birds at Tampa, Florida, 61

Myths and the Mistletoe, 212

Nature's Adjustments, 41

Nature's Grotesque, 149

Nature Study and Nature's Rights, 176

Nature, The Voice of, 136

Nature's Orchestra, 161

Ocelot, The (_Felis pardalis_), 30-1

October, 157

Otter, American (_Lutra canadensis_), 172-5

Peccary (_Dicotyles torquatus_), 128-31

Pet, A Household, 52

Pigeon, The Passenger, 25

Plover, The Golden (_Charadrius dominicus_), 178-9

Porcupine, Canadian (_Erethizon dorsatus_), 186-7

Puffin, The Tufted (_Lunda cirrhata_), 138-9

Rabbit, The American (_Lepus sylvaticus_), 26-7

Raccoon, American (_Procyon lotor_), 90-1

Red Head (_Aythya americana_), 150-1

Sandpiper, The Least (_Tringa minutilla_), 70-1

Sandpiper, The Pectoral (_Tringa maculata_), 114-15

Secrets of an Old Garden, 16

Seminary for Teaching Birds How to Sing, 78

Sheep, Mountain (_Ovis montana_), 74-5

Silk Worm, The (_Bombyx mori_), 222-3

Skunk, American (_Mephitis varians_), 233

Skylark, The, 176

Snipe, Wilson's (_Gallinago delicata_), 6-7

Snowflakes, 229

Songsters, About the, 21

Sparrow, New Champion for, 135

Squirrels, Flying (_Pteromys volucella_), 214-15

Squirrel, Fox (_Sciurus cinereus_), 54-6

Squirrel, American Gray (_Sciurus carolinensis_), 110-11

Squirrel, The Hunted, 119

Squirrel, Red (_Sciurus hudsonius_), 14-15

Squirrel Road, The, 44

Squirrel Town, 4

Summary, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 238

Symbol, A, 208

Tern, Caspian (_Sterna tschograva_), 190-1

Tern, The Common (_Sterna hirundo_), 46-7

Useful Birds of Prey, 88

Voices, 201

Vulture, California (_Pseudogryphus californianus_), 226-7

Walk, A Winter's, 221

Wild Birds in London, 92

Wolf, Black (_Canis occidentalis_), 8-11

Wolf, Prairie (_Canis latrans_), 50-1

Wren, The Envious, 185

+----------------------------------------------------------------- + | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. | | | | Page 204: "glottides" changed to "glottises." | | | | Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant | | form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. | | | | Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. | | | | The American Golden-Eye illustration has been moved from page | | 231 to page 230 and the Skunk illustration from page 235 to | | page 233. | | | | Duplicated section headings have been omitted. | | | | Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, | | _like this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal | | signs, =like this=. | | | | The Contents table was added by the transcriber. | +------------------------------------------------------------------+