Owls for House Decorations

There seems to be a great demand for birds and animals for ornamenting rooms and hallways just now. The most popular, and now the greatest rage, is stuffed owls. There are five varieties, but the favorite is the common screech owl, not because they are the cheapest, but are called so "cute" by the ladies, that they cannot resist buying them. These owls are carried to New York from several states — New Jersey and Connecticut furnish a good many. Farmers' boys capture them alive, or kill them and sell their bodies for twenty-five or fifty cents. They are mounted usually with their wings folded, as they appear when sitting on the branch of a tree. Sometimes they are mounted on a crescent, but most usually on a twig or small branch. Then again two or them are mounted together — a male and a female. The feathers of the male are gray and those of the female are a brownish red. The screech owl ranges in height from six to nine inches, and retail at $3.50 apiece. The meadow owl has a very large, round head, and is a trifle larger than the screech owl. They sell at retail, when mounted, for $6.00. The bard owl, which is very much like the meadow owl, only a trifle larger, is also a native bird. A good specimen properly mounted will readily sell for $10 to $12.

August 26, 1884. Atlanta Week Constitution 17(n.a.): 8.

Song of the Whip-poor-will

By Park Benjamin.

Complaining bird, that sing'st at eve

When all around is calm and still—

Why wilt thou make my spirit grieve,

And bid me "Whip poor will!"

What has poor Willy done, that he

Should be the burden of thy song.

As, sitting on yon old oak tree,

Thou chauates all night long — "Whip poor will!"

 

I whipped him o ice, but ah! in vein;

From copse and wood, from glen and hill,

That oft-repeated solemn strain

Still bids me "Whip poor Will"

And though the little fellow screamed

For being whipped he knew not why —

Till on you heavens the starlight gleamed,

There came that mournful cry — "Whip poor Will!"

 

On other themes, oh lonesome bird!

Employ thy deep, melodious bill,

And let me hear some other word,

And not "Wil "—" Whip poor will."

For William is a pleasant boy.

A merry-hearted, lovely one —

His father's pride, his mother's joy;

Why must I whip my son! — "Whip poor will"

 

What! Never done! wilt always sing?

Can no person don keep thee still!

Has thy small harp no other string,

Besides that "Whip poor will!"

'Tis even so — tis mine own thoght,

And not thy mate, does Willy wrong!

Then sing away — with sweetness fraught —

Sing that coin; laining, constant song — "Whip poor Will!"

February 24, 1842. Southern Banner 10(50): 1. The text of this poem is presented as based on the best interpretation possible of the text given online within a scanned version of the original newspaper page.

A Singular Bird Killed in Kentucky

James Henry, of Mound City, Illinois, on Sunday week, shot a new and comparatively unknown bird, on the Kentucky shore opposite that city, which is thus described by the Cairo Democrat:

It is larger than the ostrich, and weighs 104 pounds. The body of this wonderful bird is covered with snow white down, and its head is of a fiery red. The wings of deep black, measure 15 feet from tip to tip, and the bill, of a yellow color, 24 inches. Its legs are slender and sinewy, pea green in color, and measure 48 inches in length. One of the feet resembles that of a duck, and the other that of a turkey. Mr. Henry shot it a distance of one hundred yards, from the topmost branch of a dead tree, where it was perched, preying upon a full-sized sheep that it had carried from the ground. This strange species of bird, which is said to have existed extensively during the days of the mastodon, is almost entirely extinct — the last one having been seen in the State of New York, during the year 1812. Potter has it on exhibition in his office, at Mound City. Its flight across the town and river was witnessed by hundreds of citizens.

September 22, 1868. Federal Union 39(8): 4.

Sparrow Hawk Dies Upon Hitting Glass

Brevities.

—On Friday morning the following singular incident occurred: T.F. Hudson's canary bird usually sets on the counter, in his store, just opposite the show window. A sparrow hawk, starting from one of the oak trees in the Plaza, which faces the store, made a plunge for the bird and brought up with such force against the plate-glass that it fell dead upon the sidewalk, its skull crushed and eyes protruding from their sockets. This was an enterprising forager; one leg had been shot away and part of the remaining claw, still the bird was in good condition. The plate-glass window was the mistake of its life. — Santa Rosa Democrat.

This news item is significant as it is the first known window-strike for the West Coast.

January 18, 1875. Daily Alta California 27(9056): 1.

A Monster Bird in California

Last Tuesday evening about seven o'clock, says the Winnemucca (Cal.) Register of August 9, the people in the lower town were startled by the sudden appearance of a huge monster we are at a lost to know whether to call fowl or beast, not-withstanding it had wings and could fly. It was certainly the biggest creature ever seen in this country with feathers. If a bird, it belongs to a giant species unknown to American ornithology. Our attention was first attracted by hearing some one sing out, "Holy Mother, see that cow with wings." We stepped to the door just in time to see the monster alight with something of a crash on the roof of Mrs. Collier's dwelling house, where it remained for several minutes taking a quiet survey of the land and the astonished multitude who stood gazing at that unexpected visitor. It could not have weighed less than seventy or one hundred lbs., with a pair of ponderous wings, which, when stretched out to the breeze, must have been fully twelve feet from tip to tip. Its color was that of a raven, with the exception that the tip of its wings and tail were white. An "old salt," who happened to get sight of the bird, thinks he must be a renegade member of the condor family. He says he has frequently met with such "critters" on the coast of South America.

Tuesday Evening would have been August 1, 1871.

September 15, 1871. Macon (Georgia) Telegraph and Messenger 6126): 2.

Shower of Birds - Strange Thing at Chicago

Chicago special: A phenomenon occurred during the storm of Saturday night in the vicinity of the Board of Trade tower light. It was none other than a shower of birds. Yesterday when the watchman made his rounds he found the sidewalk and streets fairly covered with dead birds of all sorts. A little later the electrician came down, and when he saw the great pile of birds he said it was the electric light at the top of the tower. When he went up to the lantern with some members of the Board of Trade the roof was found covered with dead birds and each of the lamps in the big circle of light was filled with them, one globe having eight birds in it. These birds are of every known variety, and many unknown, or rather unfamiliar, species among the lot. All shades and colors are there -- scarlet, blue, pink, red, canary, mottled, black and white, and there were some snipe and plover among them. The theory is that they were migratory flocks going from South to North and were attracted by the great light, which the moment they touched killed them. The birds are all of the small species. There was a countless number of them, enough to trim all the ladies; hats in Illinois. Many Bohemians were in the streets with bags and baskets, and in less than two hours the streets were cleared of every vestige of the bird shower, but the roof of the Board of Trade is now covered, and the janitors will remove them to-day.

May 18, 1886. A shower of birds. The strange thing that happened to Chicago during a storm. Macon (Georgia) Weekly Telegraph 61(7): 10.

Purple Martins Return to Midtown Roost

Purple Martins have returned to their roost at the Nebraska Medical Center campus in midtown Omaha.

There were about 130 martins of different ages present the evening of June 12th. A few flying birds were noted first, and they were then seen gathered on the wires up near 40th Street. About dusk, they were flying in their wonderfully aerobatic way before alighting for the night in the trees along 44th Street, near Farnam Street.








The splendor of this yearly gathering will be appreciated and enjoyed by many local bird watchers. Last year, the martins were first noted at the roost on June 6th.

The banners on the skywalk windows have not yet been put in place by medical center officials.

An announcement of the return of the martins was given June 15th, in Nancy's Almanac on the Omaha World-Herald webpage.