a country for birds....

within which one of our great personal delights has always been the Black Capped Chickadee. The great Crow Indian Chief, Plenty Coups, who lived near here in the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds, loved them, too. As a young man he was even enjoined in a dream to emulate their virtues, being told that

"He is least in strength but strongest of mind among his kind. He is willing to work for wisdom. The Chickadee-person is a good listener....But in all his listening he tends to his own business. He never intrudes, never speaks in strange company, and yet never misses a chance to learn from others. He gains success and avoids failure by learning how others succeeded or failed, and without great trouble to himself....Develop your body, but do not neglect your mind, Plenty-Coups. It is the mind that leads a man to power, not strength of body." (from Plenty-Coups, Chief of the Crows, by Frank B. Linderman, readily available in many editions.)

No pictures of Chickadees today, though, just this of a pool where they?ll gather....