CHAPTER I
BIRDS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN
Definition of a bird. A bird is a feathered animal. The covering of feathers is the only character common to all birds and not possessed by any other creature. The other characters—the bill, the wings, egg-laying, etc.—by which we usually distinguish birds from animals of other kinds are not exclusive bird characters. Turtles have beaks, and there is one species of mammal (the ornithorhynchus) which has a bill like that of a duck. Many insects and one species of mammal (the bat) fly. Insects, fishes, and reptiles lay eggs, and there are several rare species of mammals that lay eggs and incubate them. On the other hand, some birds are deficient in one or more of the typical bird characters. The ostrich cannot fly. The penguin can neither fly nor run, and cannot even walk well. The cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, leaving to them the hatching and rearing of its young. These exceptional cases are very interesting because they show that animals now quite different in structure and habits had a common origin, but in no case is there such a combination of characters that any doubt arises whether the creature is a bird or a mammal. The characters which typically belong to birds attain their highest development in them, and in most cases this is due to peculiar adaptabilities of the feathers.
The Anglo-Saxons' name for a bird was fugol (the flying animal). The young feathered creature they called bridd (the thing brooded). This name was also sometimes given to young mammals, but it applied especially to the young of feathered creatures which were more dependent upon the parent for warmth than others. Our English words "fowl" and "bird" come from these Anglo-Saxon terms. At first "fowl" was applied to large birds and "bird" to small ones, but gradually the use of the name "fowl" was limited to the common domestic fowl, and "bird" became the generic name for all feathered creatures.
Place of birds in the animal kingdom. Zoölogists rank mammals higher than birds because man is a mammal and his general superiority to other creatures determines the rank of the class to which he belongs. Yet, while placing birds below mammals in a simple classification of animals, naturalists point out that birds are the most distinct class in the animal kingdom. If we compare birds and the lower mammals, and compare the relations of each class to man, we see at once that nothing else could take the place of birds either in nature or in civilization. Among birds are found the highest developments of animal locomotion and of the natural voice, capacity for language far beyond that of other creatures (except man), and family and community relations resembling those of the human race. Hitherto in the history of the world mammals have been more useful to man than birds, but birds have given him some of his best ideas, and with the advance of civilization the lower mammals become less necessary and birds more necessary to him.
Flight of birds. It has been said that "on the earth and on the sea man has attained to powers of locomotion with which, in strength, endurance, and velocity, no animal movement can compare. But the air is an element on which he cannot travel, an ocean which he cannot navigate. The birds of heaven are still his envy, and on the paths they tread he cannot follow."
Since that was written practical flying machines have been invented, but in these, as in boats and ships, man has merely devised a machine which under his control can do laboriously and at great risk what the bird does naturally and easily. To birds man is indebted for his first lessons in navigating the water as well as for his ideas about airships.
Voices of birds. With few exceptions the different kinds of animals have natural languages through which individuals of the same species can to some extent hold communication with each other, and which are partly intelligible to other creatures. In all mammals except man, and in most birds, the range of expression is very limited and the sound of the voice is disagreeable; but a great many species of birds have very pleasing notes, many have very beautiful natural songs, and some readily learn the songs of other species. Man learned melody from the song birds. There are also many species of birds that can imitate a great variety of sounds, and even learn to speak words and short sentences. Birds that learn to talk often show intelligence in their use of words. This is the more remarkable because the intelligence of birds is not of a high order, but is distinctly inferior to that of the common domesticated mammals.
Social relations of birds. In aërial birds (except the cuckoos) the male and female pair, build a nest, and both take part in the incubation of the eggs and the feeding of the young. Usually a pair once mated remain mated for life and are very devoted to each other. In wild land birds the pairing habit is not of advantage to a species, but still the tendency to single matings is very strong. When land and water birds are domesticated man tries to break them of this habit because the males produce no eggs and he prefers to eat them while they are young and their flesh is tender. But, as will appear in detail when the different species of birds of this class are described, he does not always succeed in doing this. Even the domestic fowl and duck, in which pairing has been prevented for centuries, often show a strong tendency to pair; and the females with broods of young usually separate from the flock until the little ones no longer need their care. With this separate family life there is still in most species of birds concerted action by communities in migrations, in forming colonies, in attacks on other creatures, and in defense from enemies. From the earliest times of which we have knowledge the devotion of birds to their mates and to their young has afforded the most common and most beautiful illustration of family life in nature.
Place of birds in domestication. The place of birds among domestic animals corresponds to that of garden vegetables, small fruits, and flowers among cultivated plants. The great staple agricultural crops—corn, wheat, oats, barley, hay, apples, oranges, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, etc.—are produced mostly by men who make farming and stock-growing their business. But, while large quantities of garden vegetables, small fruits, flowers, poultry, pigeons, etc. are grown by people who specialize in them, the greater part of the supply in all lands comes from small gardens and small flocks on ordinary farms and in the back yards of town homes.
Uses of birds in domestication. With the exception of the cage birds and the ostrich, all our domestic birds are valuable for their flesh; but, as some kinds can be produced more easily and cheaply than others, people growing birds for the table give most attention to those that can be grown most profitably, and the others are grown principally by those who prize them for rarity, beauty, or some peculiar quality.