27 Fantastic Vintage Photos of Birds

 

Birds sing because they enjoy singing. The more they do it, the better at it they get. And birds are great singers. It’s one of the reasons people like them as pets. In this gallery of photos from the collection of Robert E. Jackson, we see people with birds. As ever, let’s imagine the stories between the pictures…

 

“I would like to paint the way a bird sings.”

― Claude Monet

 

 

There ain’t nobody here but us chickens
There ain’t nobody here at all
So calm yourself and stop that fuss
There ain’t nobody here but us
We chickens tryin’ to sleep and you butt in
And hobble, hobble hobble hobble with your chin”

– Nobody Here But Us Chickens by Louis Jordan

 

 

“Pan, who and what art thou?” he cried huskily.
“I’m youth, I’m joy,” Peter answered at a venture, “I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.”

― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

 

 

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I’m the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

– Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants

 

 

I know why the caged bird sings
a sweet and soulful song
I know why the caged bird sings
when everything seems wrong
I know why the caged bird sings
and flaps his tethered wings
birds were made to fly away
and birds were made to sing

– Abbey Lincoln, Caged Birds

 

 

 

Take time for your pleasure / and laugh with love
Take the hand of another / and sing for the wings of a dove

– Wings of a Dove by Madness

 

 

“Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
— Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

 

He said up, up, and away, we goin’ fly all day
Up, up, and away, we goin’ fly all day
Up, up, up, up, and away
Well, you asked him for the sun, did you ask him for the moon?
Well, you asked him for the sun, did you ask him for the moon?
He said cool down, baby, we’re going to be there soon

– The Chicken and the Hawk, Big Joe Turner

 

 

 

 

 

Rise up this morning, smiled with the rising sun
Three little birds pitch by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true
Saying, “This is my message to you-ou-ou”

– Three Little Birs y Bob Marley

 

 

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