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Title
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The Omaha Bird Room
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Date
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1903
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Creator
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Frank Shoemaker
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Description
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Frank Shoemaker - Omaha, Lincoln, and Nebraska Narratives
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Identifier
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321301
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Transcription
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[Page 22] can see but can not reach the seeds. He makes careful survey, peering and pecking, sometimes waiting pensively thereafter for me to behave. And if I don't, his action is energetic, and effective; he pounds fiercely at the base of a finger-nail, at the precise point where it will hurt worst -and you bet I open up! I have actually had finger-nails grow out with battle-scars to remind me of the times when I indiscreetly picked on a little feller weighing less than a half-ounce. He is very fond of fat meat, eating much of it and stowing away a supply in every cranny about the room -in cracks, in sharp angles of branches, under strips of loosened bark. He even stuffs the key-hole of the hall door with suet and seeds. Obviously he has a keen instinct to provide against a period of stress; but as no hard times have arrived in his life he never uses his surplus; he simply keeps on hoarding. He has never developed the full, mature, "chickadee-dee-dee" note, and never has been heard giving the characteristic spring whistle. The orioles walk all over us and abuse us outrageously, hammering our fingers and ears, prying our fingers apart, prying everywhere. Their bills are so sharp that a blow is not quite an unmixed joy; but we got back for more. The "prying" of the orioles is characteristic. The muscles which close the bill seem much weaker than those which open it, and it is surprising how much strength is shown in forcing our fingers apart
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
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Is Version Of
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image-306.jpg
The Omaha Bird Room