Philosophic Birds

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 36.

Philosophic Birds.

ONE who has given much study to the habits of birds, insects, etc., writes to an exchange as follows: "A few mornings since my attention was attracted to a flock of English sparrows, whose chattering was so earnest that I at first thought war was declared in the bird world, and that they were trying to adjust an amnesty. But soon I saw one fat, chubby little brown fellow fly up a few inches from the ground, carrying in his beak a soda-biscuit. He flew but a few feet before he dropped his biscuit, when another sparrow seized it and carried it a few feet farther on, and so one after another of the little brown-coats carried it along, until finally the last sparrow dropped it plump on to the horse-car track. Then away they all flew, as if their object had been accomplished. Pretty quickly along came a car, and, passing over the cracker, ground it into crumbs. Then down swooped the whole flock of feathered philosophers, and made a good breakfast."