From the collection of the San Francisco, California 2006 IN NATURAL COLORS A MONTHLY SERIAL FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY A GUIDE IN THE STUDY OF NATURE Two VOLUMES EACH YEAR VOLUME VIII JUNE, 1900, TO DECEMBER, igoo Public Library EDITED BY WILLIAM KERR HIGLEY CHICAGO A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER 203 Michigan Ave. COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD INDEX. Volume VIII — June, J900, to December, J900, inclusive. PAGE Almond, The [Illustration] (Albert Schneider) 188 Ant, An Hour With An (Harriet Woodbridge) . . 155 Antelope, The Prong-Horned (Illustration) 179 Aster, The L,ate Purple (Illustration) .. 63 Aster, The New England (Illustration) 63 Asters, The (Charles S. Raddin) 62 Autumn [Poem] (Frederick William Faber) 149 Autumn Poem] (William Cullen Bryant) 145 Autumn Sonnet] (Henry Wadsworth I^ongfellow) 98 Banana, The [Illustration] (William Kerr Higley ) 95 Bantams, The Ways of Some (May H. Prentice) 152 Bass, The Calico [Illustration] 83 Bee Balm or Oswego Tea [Illustration] 117 Bird Family, A Few of the [Poem] (James Whitcomb Riley ) 125 Birds and Poets [Selection] (John Burroughs) 128 Birds, Natural Rights of (L/ynds Jones) 8 Bird Study (Olive Thorne Miller) 78 Bird, To the Vesper [Poem] (Frank English) 73 Birds, What Do We Owe the? (Lynds Jones) 72 Black-Eyed Susan or Ox-Eye Daisy [Illustration] Ill Bob White [Poem] (Effie L,. Hallett) 128 Bob White, A True Story of a Wayward (Charles Thompson) 113 Brittany [Illustration] 34 Buffle-Head, The [Illustration] 155 Carnivorous Plants (John Merle Coulter) 228 Castles in the Air (Charles Elmer Jenney) 175 Cattle 32 Chat, Chatter of a (Elizabeth Nunemacher) 168 Christmas To-night [Poem] (Phillips Brooks) 226 Columbine, The [Illustration] (James Jensen) 101 Daisies, Sunflower and (Albert Schneider) 110 Day and Ni^ht [Poem] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich) 132 Debt, How We May Best Pay the (L/ynds Jones) 122 December, [Sonnet] (Helen Hunt Jackson) 193 December, King [Poem] (Walter Thornbury) 193 Deep, The [Poem] (John G. C. Brainard) 139 Dog and Its Ancestors, The [Illustration] 225 Eagle Leel. But let us say seventy-five cents to ? A Jusj,lce tVhe ^eater excellence the bird s flesh as food. We must consider, however, that the most of 'the birds which are not good for food, civil- ized food are among our largest birds. he size of the average edible bird would sfore be greatly reduced, so our esti- mate is a very liberal one. But during the average lifetime of the average bird into account the real good we derive in the p easure which the beautiful plum- age, the sweet voice and the graceful form bring to us. That is an added ^ETtt'SStS^SW skTn es the van the bir skin as an ornament of dress or of the dwell- ing or as a scientific specimen compare with its value as a living creature? As an ornament it may be a thing of beauty, or a hideous caricature. Even as a thing of beauty it could not be made more so than the living bird. No one will be will- ing to declare that the quill, or the wing, or the skin is necessary to the bonnet. Many of us honestly think that the bon- net would look far better without either, As a scientific specimen the skin will serve some purposes, some legitimate purposes, which the living bird will not. The living bird cannot be fully under- stood without a careful study of its struc- ture any more than a living man can. Unfortunately, birds which die a natural death cannot be found while their bodies are fit to study, if found at all. But hap- pily, the number of dead birds necessary for study is limited. Even for scientific purposes there is no possible excuse for indiscriminate slaughter. Collecting should be left to those and those only who know what is needed and are con- tent with enough. In these days of large collections and advanced knowledge, it is the rare exception when the dead bird will be more useful than the living one. These exceptions do not affect the right of the bird to live. Boys who begin to study birds have a passion for making a collection of the eggs. Eggs are beauti- ful things, and they look well in a cabi- net properly arranged. But all of the eggs which most boys would be likely to find are already well known, so that a study of the eggs in the nest and of the young birds will teach him far more that we really need to know about the birds The greater good is not to make a collec- tion of birds' eggs What shall ' ab h w d> ri ht to Hbert ? Qe£rl ™ ** ™ d Qnes If bird be d h * f } . these ^ h • ^/^ wi,, be nfeded f ^ ? Wil1 be Mm«Z a hi^h S°od> and if glen thdr freedom in when th lessons have been learne§ the h -f there be any> will be full id But here> again> the caged bird will be the rare ex_ ception and so does not affect the right of the average bird to liberty. We then have only to inquire whether the bird has a right to the pursuit of hap- piness. No one who has studied the liv- ing bird with anything like an appreci- ation of it will think of denying that birds are creatures of intense life, capable of strong feeling and keen enjoyment. They speak out their feelings in song and ac- tion. It is really their human attributes which makes them appeal so strongly to us. We know that they are capable of love and hate, of joy and sorrow, of pleasure and pain. In them we recog- nize the heroic attribute of martyrdom. In order, therefore, to determine what the attitude of the bird would likely be were his right to the pursuit of happiness de- nied, we have only to ask what our own attitude would be under the same circum- stances. If our happiness should be threatened in this place we would cer- tainly go where it would not be. The birds do the same. But we have already seen that the birds have a right to life and liberty on account of the services they render to the world. If we deny them the right of happiness they will not 12 BIRDS be able to perform their service for us. We are ready, then, to concede to the Under persecution they cannot do their birds as natural rights what we long ago best, even if they remain to do anything declared were the natural rights of man- for us. Persistent persecution will either kind,— "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of drive them away or destroy them alto- Happiness." We might properly discuss gether. Since we cannot do without the question What do we Owe to the their services even for a single year, it is clear that we must agree that they do have the natural right to the pursuit of happiness. birds? b < . .g a ^ t ic fora STRUCTURE AND HABITS OF BIRDS. From a lecture by Frank M. Chapman, April, 1900. HOW HAVE the various types of bird life come into existence? To un- derstand this we must study the wings of the creature to learn its evolution from the early reptile-like type of bird. The most primitive use of the wing is as a hand, by which the bird may climb about, In contrast the albatross has the finest developed wings of any species which are fourteen feet across. The man-o'-war, however, is even a better example, per- haps, for although having a body no larger than a hen, it has wings which spread apart to a distance of seven or eight feet, enabling it to soa.r in the air for several days without touching the earth. By intertwining the outer feathers of the wings some birds can remain station- ary in the air for hours at a time, not once moving a wing. The razor-billed hawk is the nearest living representative of the extinct great hawk, a bird which, having small wings, could not .fly, and soon became extinct. The penguin, with its flippers, can fly only on the water, and has to waddle when on land. Certain grebes which find their food in lakes have also lost their power of flight. This is true of some pigeons, auks, parrots, grebes, ducks and other birds which have not found it necessary to obtain their food by flying. Wings are also used to express emo- tion. Many young birds, of which the oriole furnishes an example, cause their «vings to quaver in supplication. Certain oirds also make use of their wings as a musical organ, as is evinced in the whist- ling sound produced by the woodcock. Our nighthawk makes a booming sound with its wings by extending its outer quills as it dives earthward. A weapon is also found by some birds in their wings, the pigeon, hen and other of our common birds using their wings to strike with. The foot shares with the wing the du- ties of locomotion. Birds with highly developed wings have poor feet. The swallow, an aerial bird, is an example. The chimney-swift has a tiny foot, but enormously developed wings, and if placed on a flat surface is unable even to support itself. All aquatic and terres- trial birds have excellently developed feet. The loon is so thoroughly aquatic that it cannot walk on land without the support of its breast and wings. The sea snipe has a foot especially fitted for swim- tning, and can be found a few hundred miles off the Atlantic coast in flocks of hundreds of thousands, perfectly at home in the water. The foot is generally related to the length of the neck. The flamingo wades out into the water, and is able to duck its head and secure its food with the aid of its particularly 'constructed neck. In se- curing prey the foot also plays an im- portant part. The great horned owl and the duck hawk have enormous grasping BIRDS 13 power in their claws. In our grouse or uses its bill as a chisel. In southern Ari- partridge a horny, fringe-like growth ap- zona the Californian woodpeckers have pears on the toes late in the fall, serving used the poles of the Western Union as a sort of snowshoe during the winter, Telegraph Company in which to store by which the bird is enabled to walk on acorns, and in some instances have bored the surface of the snow. This growth large holes entirely through the poles. In is shed in the spring. those woodpeckers which feed on bark we The bill is the most important organ find the tongue brush-like to swab up the of the four we are discussing. It has the sap. Where woodpeckers chisel the offices of the hand. There is an almost tongue is horny. In prying off cones limitless variation in its shape, admirably from trees the cross-bill finds its appar- adapted in each instance to its food re- ently malformed tongue most helpful. In quirements. The fish-eating duck grasps humming birds there is a marked vari- its prey with a saw bill. The pelican ation in the bill, enabling them to feed on catches its fish by diving from .the air, different sorts of flowers. often from distances of forty feet, and catches its fish in a bill an inch and a half in width. As it throws its head out in diving, it widens the rim of its bill and catches the prey in its curious pouch. The flamingo catches, with its food, mud and sand, which it expels through a curi ous straining apparatus. The woodcock The hurabird of New Zealand has the most curious bill known. The male has one sort which he uses in excavating, after which the female can insert her bill and secure the food which the male has thus obtained. After a study of the various forms of bird structure and habits has been made, has the power of curving up the upper it still remains a problem whether their portion of its bill, giving it the grasping structure is the result of natural selection, power of a finger, which greatly aids it or natural selection is the result of their in probing for worms. The woodpecker structure. WILSON'S THRUSH. ( Turdus fusee scens.} THIS very interesting bird is found in all parts of eastern North America. Breeds in the states bordering on the Great Lakes and as far north as Mani toba. It winters in Central America. It is generally partial to low, swampy wood lands. He is much more shy than his pretty cousin, the wood thrush ; he lives nearer the ground and is not so likely to leave the cover of his haunts. In locali ties where he is equally common with the wood thrush he is less frequently ob served. The nest of this thrush is made of strips of bark, rootlets and leaf stems, wrapped with leaves and lined with fine rootlets. The nest is always on or near the ground. Mr. Chapman says of him: "He has a double personality, or he may repeat the notes of some less vocally developed an cestor, for on occasions he gives utterance to an entirely uncharacteristic series of caching notes, and even mounts high in the tree to sing a hesitating medley of the same unmusical cacks, broken, whistled calls and attempted trills. Fortunately, this performance is com- p..ratively uncommon, and to the most -'>f us he is known only by his own strange, unearthly song. His notes touch chords which no other bird's song reaches. The water thrush is inspiring, the wood and hermit thrushes "serenely exalt the spirit," but Wilson's thrush or the veery appeals to higher feelings. All the won drous mysteries of the wood find a voice in his song; he thrills us with emotions we can not express." 14 FISHES THE FISH'S PLACE IN NATURE. DAVID STARR JORDAN. SOME animals have their hard parts carp or a herring. Still, on the whole, on the; outside. These may be a horny the backboned animals are the highest coat or skin, such as the beetle has, or a and as you and I both belong to that class double shell, like the oyster's, or a single we could never afford to confess to any shell, like the house of a snail. Or they doubts as to their superiority, may be a hard crust, like the lobster's But we are the highest of the type — £oat of mail, or a brittle crust, like the that is, we men — and the rest of the tribe sea-urchin's, or with tough nodules on a are all lower. And the lowest of all back- leathery hide, as in the star-fish, or any boned animals we call fishes. And we one of a hundred variations from these. shall know a fish when we see one be- But in all such cases there is no back- cause the hard parts or skeleton are on bone, no true skeleton and no real skull, the inside, and he stays in the water, Then there are a host of animals that breathing the air which is dissolved in it, have their hard parts on the inside. When and he has never any toes or claws or this is the case the animal has a regular feathers. He breathes with gills and he head, generally with a skull inside to pro- swims with fins. He has no hair or feath- tect a brain from hard knocks. ers on his body and when he has any Then behind the skull is a backbone cover on his skin at all it takes the shape made up of a number of separate joints of of scales. A fish is a water backboned bone. To the skeleton other bones are animal. A backboned animal is called a attached to help the animal to move him- vertebrate. A fish is therefore a water- self about on land or in the water. Some- vertebrate. times these bones grow out as legs, with There were fishes before there were toes and claws at the tip of them. Some- any other kind of vertebrates. They have times they take the form of wings or they been on the earth longer than birds or may spread out into flat paddles or oars beasts or reptiles. They came first, and of one kind or another, and these we call we have good reason to believe that the fins. What shape the parts take depends fishes are the ancestors of all the others, on what the animal does with them, for But when the forefathers of the land every kind of beast is built with direct animals found means of keeping alive on reference to his business in life. the land, so many new opportunities The backboned animals are the highest opened out to them and they found so of all the animal kingdom. That is, in much variety in their surroundings, that general ; they can do more things, they they throve and spread amazingly. And have a greater variety of relations to the there came to be many kinds of them, things around them, and they are more of many forms, while the rest of the tribe definitely fitted for a high position. Some kept in the water and stayed fishes, of them are not very high nor very intel- And there was always a host of these, ligent, even as compared with their lower and nearly all of them had fishes for their brethren, the insects. The ant is a tiny food. So they fought for food and creature, with no skull and no backbone, fought for place. Those who could swim and cannot do any very big thing. But fastest got away from the rest, and those she 'is a very wise beast by the side of a who could move quickest got the most to FISHES 17 eat. Those with the longest teeth were present at the most meals, and those with the biggest mouths dined with them. And some escaped because they had hard, bony scales, too tough to crack. Some were covered over with thorns, and some had spines in their fins, which they set erect when their enemies would swallow them. And some had poison in their spines and benumbed their enemies, and some gave them electric shocks. Some hid in crevices of rock, or bored holes in the mud, and lay there with their noses and their beady eyes peeping out. Some crawled into dead shells. Some stretched their slim, ribbon-like bodies out in the hanging sea-weed. Some fled into caves, whither no one followed them, and where they lay hid for a whole geological age, until, seeing nothing, they had all gone blind. And some went down into the depths of the sea — two miles, three miles, five miles — I have helped haul them up to the light — and these went blind like the others, for the depths of the sea are black as ink and cold as ice. And even there they are not safe, for other fishes go down there to eat them. And some carry lanterns, large, shining spots on their heads or bodies, sometimes like the head light of an engine. And with these flash ing lanterns, these burglars of the deep hunt their prey. And these are hunted by others fish-hungry, too, who lurk in the dark and swallow them, lanterns, head light and all ! And so, with all this eating and chasing and fighting and fleeing and hiding and lurking, it comes about that wherever there is decent water on land or sea there are fishes to match it. And every part of every fish is made expressly for the life the fish has to lead. If any kind failed to meet requirements, other fishes would de vour and destroy it. So only the fit can survive and these people the water after their kind. All kinds of fishes are good to eat ex cept a few which are too tough, a few which are bitter, and a few that feed on poisonous things about the coral reefs and so become poisonous themselves. Some are insipid, some full of small bones and some are too lean or too small to tempt anybody, unless it be another fish. But this is their business, not ours, and they have flesh enough for the things they have to do. The biggest fish is the great basking shark, which grows to be thirty-five feet long, and lies on the surface of the sea, like a huge saw-log, filling its great mouth with the little things that float along beside it. The smallest of all fishes lives in the everglades of Florida and the streams that run out of them. You can find them in the little brook that runs through Jack sonville. I have netted them there with a spread umbrella, which will serve when you cannot get a better dip-net. They are prettily barred with jet black on a green ish ground, and they belong to that group of top minnows to which Agassiz gave the name of heterandria. It is hard to sav what is the highest fish — what is the one which has undergone the greatest modification of structure. Perhaps this place should be assigned to the sole, with its two eyes both on one side of the head, peering through the same socket, while the socket on the other side has no eye at all. Or perhaps we may place as high est some specialized form as the angler or the sargassum fish, which has the paired fins greatly developed almost like arms and legs, and which has a dorsal spine modified into a fishing rod, which has a bait at the end, hanging over the capa cious mouth. Agassiz put the sharks higher than all these bony fishes because, while lower in most respects, the sharks have greater brain and greater power of muscle. Others again might give the highest place to the lung fishes, fishes of the tropical swamps, with lungs as well as gills, and which can breathe air after a fashion when the water is all gone. These are not high in themselves, but they are nearest the higher animals, especially interesting to us because from such creatures in the past all the frogs and salamanders, and through these all the beasts that bite, the birds that fly and the reptiles that crawl are descended. These are near the primi tive fish stock, the ancestors of true fishes on the one hand and of the land verte brates on the other. As such, they par take of the nature of both. More cor rectly, their descendants have divided their characters. Their land-progeny lost 18 FISHES the gills, scales and fins of the lung fishes, french broad and the Swannanoa, the while their water descendants have lost clear-skinned pescados blancos of the their lungs, or rather the use of them, Chapala Lake and the pop-eyes and gren- for the lung of the fish is generally a adiers of three miles drop of Bering Sea. closed sac, called the air bladder. Some- Till you learn to know fish you cannot times it is only partly closed, and some- imagine what the water depths still have cimes it is lost altogether. fc • you to know. But while we may dispute about the The second good reason why you highest fish, there is no doubt about the should go a-fishing is that you may know lowest one. This is the lancelet. It is the places where fishes go. All the finest of the size and shape of a toothpick, trans- scenery is full of fish. The Fire-Hole lucent, scaleless, and almost finless, bury- . Canyon, the Roaring River, the Agna ing itself in the sand on warm coasts, in Bonita, the Rio Blanco, de Orizaba, almost every region. the creek of Captains Harbor, the The lancelet has no real bone in it, Saranna, the Roanoke, the Restigou- just a line of soft tissue blocking out the che, the Nipigon, and the lakes of space where the backbone ought to be. It the St. John, all these are good has no skull, nor brain, nor eyes, nor fishing water of their kind. So is jaws, nor heart, nor anything in partic- the Rio Almendares, the Twin Lakes, ular — just transparent muscle, spinal and the Eagle River, the Sawtooth Moun- cord, artery gills, stomach and ovaries, tains, the Venados Islands, the shores of with a fringe of feelers about the slit we Clipperton, the Pearl Islands, Dead call the mouth. And even these organs Man's Reef, No Man's Land, and the are rather blocked out than developed, sand reaches of San Diego, Santa Bar- yet it is easy to see that the creature is a bara, Pensacola, and Beaufort. If you vertebrate in intention and therefore es- know all these you know the rest of the sentially a fish — a fish and a vertebrate United States, with Canada and Mexico reduced to their lowest terms. as well. All this is a goodly country, You can go fishing almost anywhere, which it is well for a good citizen to un- but whether it is good to do it or not derstand. If you go a-fishing to know the depends on your reasons for doing it. fish, the rest will be granted to you. And There are about three good reasons for with all the rest you have filled your mind going a-fishing, one indifferent one, and not only with pictures of plunging trout, one that is wholly bad. of leaping muscallonge and diving barra- One good reason is that you may learn cuda, but you have enriched it with end- to know fish. Isaac Walton tells us that less vistas of deep, green pools ; of foamy "it is good luck to any man to be on the cascades, flower-carpeted meadows, of good side of the man that knows fish." dark pines and sunny pines, white birch This is true, but you cannot learn to know and clinging vines and wallowing man- fish unless you go forth to find them, grove. You have "dominion over palm There are about 15,000 kinds of fish in and pine," the only dominion there is, for the world ; 4,000 of them in North Amer- your dominion doth not "speedily pass ica, north of Panama. Now no man away." You know the crescent bay, with knows them all, not even on one conti- its white breakers, the rush of the eager nent, though some have written books waiters through the tide-worn estuary, upon them. the clinging fucus on the rocks at low- But the man who knows a large part of tide, the bark of sea wolves, and the roar them has not only learned fish, but a host of sea lions in the long lines of swaying of other things as well. He calls to mind kelp which reach far out into the farthest rosy-spotted trout of the Maine woods, sea. This is good for you to know, for it and still rosier of many brooks of Un- is an antidote to selfishness and doubt alaska. He has seen the blue parrot fishes and care. Then, too, it is good to know of the Cuban reefs and the leaping grav- the men that live in the open where the ling of the Gallatin and the Au Sable. He fishes are. To shake their hands and has tried the inconnu of the Mackenzie share their hospitality will cure you of River and the tarpon of the Florida reefs, pessimism and distrust of democracy, and He knows the sparkling darters of the banish all the chimeras and goblins which FISHES 19 vex those who live too long in cities. To a hundred trout in the Au Sable and ate hear the elk's whistle and the ouzel's call, them all you were fortunate. They helped the whirr of the grouse's wings and the out your store of provisions, and trout rush of the water in the canyon, will get are very fair eating when properly fried, out of your brain the shriek of cable cars, But don't brag about it. It interests the the rattle of the elevated railway, and all rest of us no more than if you boasted of the unwholesome jangle of men who meet catching ten frogs, or eating a hundred to make money. chickens in a hundred consecutive days. So there is a third reason for going The matter of fish as food belongs to a-fishing — not so good as the first two, economics or some other dismal science, but still very noble. We may fish for rest By eating trout or bass you can never get or exercise, which is but another form of "on the good side of the man who knows rest. We may fish placidly in the placid fish." brooks as Walton did, for chub and dace, There remains one reason for going till our thoughts flow as placidly as the fishing which is positively horribly, dis- Charles, or the Suwanee, or the Thames. gustingly bad — that is, to see how many Or we may fish in the rush and roar of fish you can catch, just for numbers' sake, the Des Chutes or the Buttermilk, tramp- This is called "hog fishing," and whether ing high through the pines to Agua Bo- your purpose be to brag over the size of nita, or far across the desert to Trapper's your basket or to lie about the catch, or Lake, or struggling through the wooded both, it is bad — bad for the fish, bad for reaches to the Saranac. We may come the rivers, bad for your neighbors, bad back at night tired enough to lie flat on for you. The good man will never slay the floor and "drip off the edges" of it, fish wantonly. We creatures of God on but withal at peace with all the world— the earth together should enjoy each it matters not whether we have fish or other, and the beautiful world, which is not. ours alike. There is one reason for fishing which is Because man is the wisest of all, with wholly indifferent — that is to go a-fish- greatest power of knowledge and capac- ing for the meat which is in the fish. This ity for happiness, it is all the more in- is pan-fishing or pot-fishing. If you get cumbent on him to preserve the world as your living by it, that is your business. fair as he found it, and to respect the It is frequently an honest business. But rights so far as may be 'of every other it is not a matter of pride. If you caught man and beast. 20 WATER SOME INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT RIVERS. JENKIN LLOYD JONES. DID THE rivers make the valleys or And then along the river the grass grows did the valleys make the rivers ? This is greenest, and this afforded good grazing not only an interesting but a very difficult for his cows, and his horses, and, may be, question to answer correctly. Ask your his camels. What kind of food does the teachers about it. Be sure you do not camel like best, anyhow ? Primitive man make any mistakes, because when you an- must have learned to swim early, and it swer it correctly you have found out a must have been fun for the little boys of great deal about geology. And geology barbarism, as it is for the little boys of is a hard name for a subject that contains civilization, to plunge into the cooling many interesting and easy things, and the water on a hot day. Man must have study of the river will help you under- found out very early how to make a raft stand many of these things. which would carry him down stream, However, it may be about the valleys, and soon after he learned how to make a we are very sure that the river made canoe that he could paddle up stream, many, many other things that we know So the river became his first road. On it about. Did you ever hear of the orator he traveled when he went hunting, and in the New York Legislature, who won- with its help he protected his property dered how it was that the rivers most al- and that of the tribe. The enemies were ways flowed by the big cities? He cer- driven across the river, and kept on the tainly got his "cart before the horse," for other side. it is the big cities that always grow by the A good way to study what a river does big rivers. History has always grown for man is to find out all you can about along the banks of rivers, because all the life that gathered about some par- civilization has grown along their banks, ticular river, for that will tell you more The boundaries of nations change. The or less of what happened along the banks political maps of Europe that I studied of all the great rivers. The best of all when I was a boy are now out of date, rivers for such study is the Nile. It is and you would find they are all wrong, one of the long rivers of the world, so because the boundaries of kingdoms, long that its sources have only been re states, and empires have changed so cently discovered by those who make often ; but the life of the world continues geographies. Read the stories of Living- to be found largely along the banks of stone and Stanley, and the early explor- the rivers. ers, who went in search of the head Why is this ? And here is another waters of the Nile. question for you to talk with your teach- But there are two Niles. One runs ers about. If you get the answer, you through the continent of Africa, and emp- will have the key that will let you into ties into the Mediterranean Sea. An- much of the wonders and triumphs of art, other begins in the very earliest dawn of architecture, and commerce. history, and runs through the human Of course, the very earliest man would story of thought, feeling, and life. Along keep close to the river's edge, because he the banks of this Nile, in history, we see would have no other sure way of getting how human life was developed ; all water to drink, and the fish in the water, human life beginning away back there, so the birds on the water, and the birds' far back we cannot count it by years; eggs in the nests along the edge of the when man made knives of flints and river offered him a sure supply of food, hatchets of stone. And then, because the WATER Xile gently overflowed its banks two or more times a year, leaving after each freshet a soft layer of fertile mud on either side, primitive man began to plant his seed in this field plowed by a river, and to raise his millet, and peas, and beans, and some kind of wheat and corn. He was able to feed his cattle, and to raise chickens and geese along the banks of this river, which was only a green rib bon, from six to ten miles wide, four or five hundred miles long. On this green ribbon a great civilization, so great and so wonderful that only very learned men can understand how wonderful and how great it was, grew up. Find out something about the pyra mids. Look up pictures of the ruins of the Temple of Karnak; and that great stone image, carved out of a hill, higher than a five-story building, with a head so large that if a man stood on the top of one ear he could hardly reach the top of the head with his outstretched hand. The Greeks called this great stone image, with the body of a lion and the head of a man, a sphinx ; but the Egyptians called it the "Hor-em-khoo," the "Horus-on-the- horizon ;" and Horus was the god-child they most loved, the child of Osiris, the great sun-divinity, and of Isis, the beauti ful mother of heaven. All this civiliza tion along the Nile would have been im possible had it not been for the Nile. The great stones that went into the pyramids were floated down the river. Soldiers and workingmen were transported on the river. The fields were made fertile by the river, and the leisure and the wealth that were made possible by the fertile fields on the river's bank gave men time to think and to feel, to invent the beauti ful picture writings, to cut out the great tomb temples, and to think the great thoughts of religion, God-thoughts, love- thoughts, and duty-thoughts. Now, what happened along the banks of the Nile happened to a certain degree along the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris. Mesopotamia means "the land between the rivers," the mid-river country. Away back five or six thousand years ago there were people who built great cities, erected high tower-temples of burned brick. They invented a curi ous kind of arrow-headed alphabet (the cuneiform), which they stamped into clay tablets, brick reading books. On banks of these rivers, in that far-off time, astronomers watched the stars, and found out a good deal about the planets and eclipses. They measured time by the year of three hundred and sixty-five days, and twelve months, which means that they had watched the moon and measured the length of the days. Then tkere are other rivers, The Ganges, that runs through the heart of India, on the banks of which there grew up the great religions and the curious customs of the Hindus and the Bud dhists; and the Jordan, which, you will remember, flows through our Bible. Around it clusters the great stories of the prophets, of Jesus and his disciples. When we turn to Europe, we will find much about the Germans, by finding out all we can about the Rhine. If you can find out much about the Rhone and the Seine, you will understand the story of France and the French people. The Thames is older than London ; and along the banks of the Danube grew up nation after nation. Down that stream have floated war vessels for different peoples for thousands and thousands of years. Would you not like to see a collection of boats that would reach from the boats made of the raw hides of animals by the earlier pagan people along the Danube, up to the latest and best steamer that now plies up and down that great river? None the less interesting are the rivers of the Western continent, the Hudson, the Mississippi, and the Missouri ; the Ohio and the Amazon are the pathways over which the first explorers traveled. Along their banks did the first settlers make their homes, and on their bosom did the men in the wild woods first send their traffics. Who was it that started the first steamboat up the Hudson ? You remem ber how Abraham Lincoln when a boy helped build a flat-boat, and how he steered that flat-boat all the way from Illinois to New Orleans, selling there the truck the early settlers raised, exchang ing it for molasses, and sugar, and the calico that they needed in Illinois. When we remember the great service that the rivers have rendered man, the beautiful stories that cluster around them, the beautiful life that has sported in their waters, floated upon their surface, and 24 WATER gathered on their banks, is it not a pity that they are being so despoiled by thoughtless and reckless men, who wan tonly cut down the forests, waste the trees that grow upon their banks? And then, in our cities, instead of beautifying the banks and profiting by the scenery, foolish men turn the back doors of their houses upon the rivers, build barns upon their banks, make of them the dumping- places into which they throw their rub bish, street sweepings, and old tin cans, everything that will soil the water and spoil the scenery. Do you not think that some day we will again come back to the" old love of the river, even if we do not need it so much as a highway now ? for railroads go faster. We will keep them clean and beautiful, for the pleasure and the health they yield. You have heard of what a dirty thing the Chicago river is, how un pleasant it is both to the sense of sight and to the sense of smell. It is very much the same with many of the other rivers that flow through our great cities, and even smaller towns. Some day the children of our public schools, who are now studying these things, will grow up, and they will find out how to purify our streams. They will restore their beauty. They will love the fish in the water so much that they will prefer seeing them alive to eating them when dead. They will give . back the rivers to the birds, that will sing unmolested upon their banks, and raise their little ones undis turbed in their nests, built low among the sedges, or swinging loftily in the pop lar boughs above. So you see, my children, to know the river is to know much of the geology of the world, much of the plant and animal life of the world, very much of the his tory of man, and very much of the higher hopes and aspirations, the poetry, the morality, and the religion of the human soul. The rivers were here before man was. They invited man. They nursed him. They fed him. They marked the places for his settlements. They helped the organization of the state. By the way, as a closing lesson, sup pose you find out how many of the states of our Union were named after rivers, and see how many of the river names you can discover the meaning of ; for the rivers were on the earth before they were named. The names are of men, and some of them are verv suggestive. The rivers are of God. They belong to nature, and they show forth the laws of nature, which are always the laws of God. INSECTS 25 SOME WATER INSECTS. CHARLES C. ADAMS. IN field and forest bright-colored and face of the water. Surface insects, such active insects attract our attention, as the Water-Skaters, found on quiet Aquatic insects, on the other hand, do not, ponds and streams, and their marine rela- as a rule, possess such bright colors as tives, Holobates, accomplish this by their land relatives nor move about with means of fine hairs which cover the feet as great rapidity, yet it does not follow where they touch the water. The same that they are less interesting. physical principal is involved here, as As would be expected, some of the when a needle or wire is floated upon most interesting things about these ani- water, — that of surface tension, mals are connected with modifications of The fine hairs on the body of a water their form which have resulted from their insect act in the same way as those on the aquatic life. It is believed that the ances- feet, and thus keep the insect dry when tors of water insects have been land in- below the surface. These insects are thus sects which invaded the water and have able to breathe as land insects, on account thus become greatly modified in their new of their being on the surf ace/ and conse- surroundings. Locomotion and breath- quently their respiratory systems are not ing, either one or both of these functions, as greatly modified as in many of the in- are, as a rule, very different in land and sects living beneath the surface. It must water insects. be borne in mind that an insect breathes The variety of aquatic insects, if we by means of the air which enters the body consider only the adults, is not great by small openings and is led by means of when compared with the land insects. But tubes, which become very finely divided, when we compare fresh and salt water like veins, to all parts of the body. By forms it is surprising how few kinds there means of contractions and expansions of are which live in the sea, in spite of its the body of the insect, the air within these vast area and great food supply. So few tubes is caused to circulate, and thus im- are the insects found in the sea, or other pure air is driven out and a fresh supply salt waters, that, to most of us, to speak is pumped in. of aquatic insects only calls to mind fresh Two of the commonest of these surface water forms. We shall, therefore, refer dwellers, so well known to the small boy almost wholly, to fresh water forms. Let who frequents ponds and streams, are the us consider briefly a few examples of Whirligig-beetles or Lucky-bugs, and the these. long-legged Water-striders or Water- We may distinguish two general skaters. groups, according to their special habitat. The Whirligig-beetles are easy to rec- Belonging to the first group are those in- ognize on account of their characteristic sects which frequent, primarily, the sur- circular gyrations when disturbed, and by face of the water. These forms which their habit of associating in large numbers breathe air directly, and not air dissolved in quiet places. When one of these in water, as is the case with many other groups is disturbed they exhibit such ac- water insects, must be kept dry and be tivity that they well deserve their name, able to maintain their position on the sur- "Crazy-bugs." The eyes of these beetles 26 INSECTS are very peculiar in that each eye is di- water where the feet touch it. One would vided into an upper and lower part. Thus hardly expect it possible for an insect th^r insect has practically an upper and standing on the surface of water to get its lower pair, one adapted for sight at the feet dirty, yet the great care which they surface, and the other for vision under give to cleaning their feet clearly shows water. that dirt is of common occurrence, even The Whirligigs do not seem to be very there. The white or gray color on the particular about their food, as they' will lower side of the body is due to the re- accept both live and dead insects which flection of light from minute hairs which fall into the water, and even under some cover the surface, and keep the insect dry circumstances will feed upon plants, even when submerged. When a beetle plunges beneath the sur- The marine relatives of our Striders face, as he often does when frightened, have some curious habits. Some of them he carries down a small bubble of air be- live out at sea, hundreds of miles from tween the ends of his horny wings and land, where they are thought to feed upon the tip of his body. On account of his the dead bodies of small animals. When body being lighter than water it takes the surface of the sea is calm they glide in some effort to dive, but none to rise to the colonies quickly over the surface, showing surface. The two hind pairs of legs great skill in diving, but if the sea begins which are used so much in swimming are to* become agitated they immediately dis- very much flattened and plate like, mak- appear from the surface, ing excellent paddles, as is shown by their Ferhaps the most remarkable habit exceedingly rapid movements. which a surface insect has is that pos- The Water-skaters, or Striders, prefer sessed by some of the allies of the Skaters,, quiet waters, as do the Whirligigs, but do which not only swim in the water, « but not have the decided social disposition, actually run on the under side of the sur- shown in the latter to such a marked de- face film. It would be very interesting to- gree. These Skaters, on account of their know how such a habit was acquired, long legs and short bodies, are the "Daddy Another interesting group of insects long-legs" of the water. These character- are those which breathe air, as the surface istics and their habitat make them easy to film insects, yet seek their food below the recognize. They are nervous, active in- surface. These insects are compelled, on sects in their movements, jumping and account of their air-breathing habits, ta skimming about on the surface with but repeatedly visit the surface or communi- little show of grace and ease as compared cate in some way with a fresh supply of with the ordinary graceful curves of the air. whirligigs. Their food habits are very We have two families of the large-sized similar to those of other surface insects, water beetles, common in our ponds and that is, dead and dying insects found streams. The Predaceous water-beetles floating on the water. But their method and the Water-scavenger beetles. These of taking food is quite different from that are easily recognized, because in the for- of the Whirligigs, because of the great mer, the antennae are thread-like and not difference in the structure of their mouth enlarged at the tip. While the members parts. The Whirligig, being a beetle, has of the Water-scavenger family have the the typical biting mouth parts, while the antennae enlarged or club-shaped at the Strider has a slender beak or proboscis, tip. The Predaceous water-beetles are by means of which it sucks the juices often quite common under electric from its prey, as do other bugs. The fore lights, where they have been at- legs are used to seize the prey and bring it tracted by the intense light. Their within reach of the beak. The middle and large size and clumsy movements, hind pair are used for rowing over the when out of water, attract attention. But surface, the latter pair, primarily, for when seen in water their skill as swim- steerage, the fine hairs on the legs mak- mers is in striking contrast to their awk- ing it possible, as mentioned before, to ward movements made on land. The hind make use of the surface tension. Large legs are flattened and very powerful, the dimples are formed on the surface of the surface being increased by a fringe of INSECTS 29 strong hairs on the inner side. In swim- hairs, thus being doubly protected from ming the stroke is made by both legs at being wetted. At the moment the beetle once. Perhaps the most interesting facts reaches the surface, by a stroke of the about these beetles are those associated antenna (on the side which is nearest the with their method of breathing. surface, the body being tilted), the film The horny wing cases covering the ab- from the air space in which the antenna domen are very thick and fit close against rests is carried upward and outward to the abdomen, except at the extreme pos- the surface of the water, thus forming an terior end of the body. The space be- opening to the exterior. By movements tween the wing cases and the upper sur- of the wings, aided by bellows-like con- face of the abdomen forms a large air tractions and expansions of the body, a space. The spiracles, or openings into fresh supply of air is pumped into the air the respiratory system, are situated at the reservoir. margins of the upper side of the abdo- In speaking of peculiar water insects men. When the beetle comes to the sur- one must not forget to mention the larva face for a fresh supply of air it exposes of Donacia. The adult female of this in- the tip of the body and then by a depres- teresting leaf-eating beetle often cuts cir- sion of the tip of the abdomen allows a cular holes in the large leaves of water- fresh supply of air to enter into the cav- lilies, and. then deposits her eggs at the ity below the wing covers ; this cavity is margin of these holes on the under side, then closed and the beetle is ready for When the larvae hatch they make their another trip under the water. When rest- way to the roots, upon which they feed, ing in the water they float with their head The really remarkable thing about this downward and the end of the abdomen larva is how it gets its air supply, as it slightly projecting from the water; thus does not have gills, nor is it known to a fresh supply of air is easy to secure. In visit the surface for a fresh supply of air, their food habits these beetles are preda- and yet it has a normal air-breathing sys- ceous, and in addition to other insects, tern. On the dorsal surface, near the tail will even kill small fish. end of the body, are two slender, curved, The Water-scavenger beetles are not spine-like processes. The air tubes of the such perfect swimmers as the Predaceous body arise from the base of these spines, ones. When the latter makes a stroke in and spiracular-like openings are found at swimming it strikes with both hind legs, their base. while the Scavengers strike alternatingly Two different views have been advo- with the hind legs. Their method of se- cated to explain how it is possible for the curing and carrying air, as with other larva to secure air. There seems to be water-beetles, is remarkable. In addition no difference of opinion with regard to to the air reservoir under the wings, they the source of the air supply, from the air have on the under side of the body large cells in the root of the plant upon which hairy areas which communicate with the the. larva feeds. One view is that these one under the wings. All the air spaces air spaces in the plant are punctured by are thus in direct communication. The the spines and thus the air is taken di- respiratory openings in the Predaceous rectly into the air tubes. The other view water-beetles open on the upper side of is that the larva bites a hole into the air the abdomen, but in these beetles they are space and then, by the aid of the spines, on the lower side and surrounded by short holds the openings at the base of the spine hairs which preserve the air film on the against the air space and thus the air is lower surface. When the fresh air supply taken up. has been exhausted the beetle comes to The Back-swimmers are curious little the surface, tips the body slightly, so as fellows which swim upside down in the to bring the region on one side of the water, and by means of their sucking body just behind the head, to the surface. mouth parts, prey upon other small ani- The long antenna which is folded back- mals. The lightness of their bodies and ward and" reaches to the rear part of the the large amount of air which they carry head, occupies an air space in its apical with them make it necessary when they half, and in addition is covered bv fine wish to remain below the surface to hold 30 INSECTS fast to some object. Thus it takes con- ture stages. The Mosquito is a good il- stant effort in order to remain below the lustration of this type. In some of its surface. For this reason it is quite nat- habits the Mosquito is well known, but ural that they should very often be found this is primarily due to the biting habit floating at the surface where no effort is of the female. The researches of recent needed to maintain their position and years clearly show that the annoyance where an abundant supply of air is acces- from the bite itself, is, in the case of some sible. kinds of Mosquitoes, only a small part of Another method of securing fresh air, the mischief that they can do. The life but differing, from that of any of the in- history of the Mosquito has been sum- sects previously mentioned, is by means marized somewhat as follows by Dr. L. of elongated breathing tubes, thus allow- O. Howard : The eggs are laid at night, ing the insect to remain submerged and in a boat-shaped mass containing from yet secure a fresh supply of air from the two hundred to four hundred eggs. These surface. This method is used by some may hatch in 16 hours, the larval stage predaceous water bugs, as shown in the lasting about a week, and the pupal stage plate, Ranatra fusca. As with all of our about 24 hours. Thus the entire cycle may Predaceous water bugs, which have the be completed in 10 days, under favorable elongated respiratory tube at the end of circumstances, but may be greatly delayed the body, the Water-scorpion has its fore by a low temperature. The rapidity with legs adapted for capturing and holding its which the complete cycle may be passed prey, which consists generally of small through makes it possible for a very large fish and insects. The apical part of the number of broods to occur during a single fore leg folds back on the basal part season. which is grooved on its inner face, as a The Wigglers or Wiggle-tails, often so knife blade folds into its handle. As the numerous in rain-barrels, are the larvae of slender legs of this bug would indicate, mosquitoes. Every one has noticed that it is not an active swimmer, but crawls these larvae when not disturbed rest at about slowly. the surface, but when frightened drop Doubtless the best known, to most peo- slowly downward in the water, since they pie, of this type of breather, are the Giant are heavier than this medium, yet they water bugs, which accumulate in such rest at the surface, by means of a rosette large numbers under and in the globes of of thin plates at the tail end of the body, electric lights. The paired nature of the These act as the hairs on the legs of the breathing tube is well shown in the plate. Water-strider, and make use of the ten- These bugs are powerful swimmers, as is sion of the surface film which holds the shown by their flattened hind legs. Even larva up, as the surface tension held up young fish are not overlooked by these the Water-strider. On the next to the last voracious bugs. A South American kind segment of the Wiggler there is a large is much larger than our species, reaching breathing tube which reaches to the sur- from four to four and one-half inches in face when the larva is floating. The food length, or about twice the size of our of the larva is said to be decaying vege- species. The shortness of the air tube table matter. The short pupal period is suggests that this organ is not used in also passed floating, but it now has two just the same manner as in the Water- breathing tubes near the points of attach- scorpions, and the areas of fine hairs on ment of the wings. When ready to trans- the under side of the body suggest that form it crawls out onto the pupal skin and these insects may be somewhat of a com- dries its wings preparatory to flight, promise between those insects which Our common mosquitoes belong to carry air below with them and those three genera, Culex, Anopheles and Cor- which remain submerged, except for the ethra. The annoyance caused by the irri- tube which communicates with the air. tation resulting from the bite is not un- Most of the insects previously men- derstood, as no poison gland has been tioned are ones which throughout life live found. The females only of our mosqui- in water, but a very large number are toes are known to suck blood. From re- aquatic only during their larval or imma- searches made during the past few years INSECTS 31 it is now definitely known that the bite of certain kinds of mosquitoes is really dan gerous. This is not on account of the actual puncture made by the insect, but due to the presence of the germs of ma laria, which are introduced into the wound from the infected insect. The only mosquitoes which are definitely known to transmit this malarial parasite to man belong to the genus Anopheles. The malarial parasite thus has two hosts, mosquitoes belonging to the genus Ano pheles and man. This parasite infests the stomach walls of the mosquito, where it rapidly multiplies and becomes mature; then escaping from this locality, accumu lates in the salivary glands. From this reservoir they are easily transferred to- their human host at the time of sucking blood. These aquatic insects which we have discussed so briefly are only a few sam ples from a very large number whose his tory and habits are full of interest to those who find the study of animal life a fascinating subject. INSECT MUSIC. The peculiar sounds made by different produced is not known, though volumes insects, though usually known as insect have been written on the subject, music, are probably far from musical in The "mourning cloak" butterfly — a the opinions of those who listen to it with dark species with a light border in its dread. Many superstitious people have wings — makes a cry of alarm by rubbing firm belief in dire warnings concerning its wings together. certain calamities which "insect music77 portends. For instance we are told that the "deathwatch" is a popular name applied to certain beetles which bore into the walls and floors of old houses. They The katydids, crickets, grasshoppers and other musical insects are all exagger ated in the tropics, assuming giant form. Thus their cries are proportionately louder. There is an East Indian cicada which make a ticking sound by standing on their makes a remarkably loud noise. It is hind legs and knocking their heads called by the natives "dundub," which against the wood quickly and forcibly, means drum. From this name comes that Many superstitions have been entertained of the genus which is known as Dundu- respecting the noise produced by these bia. This is one of the few scientific insects, which is sometimes imagined to be a warning of death. There are many insects, however, which produce sound decidedly musical ; and many such instances have been enum erated. Everybody is familiar with the music of the katydid. . Here it is the male that has the voice. At the base of each wing cover is a thin membraneous plate. terms from Sanskrit. Entomologists have succeeded in re cording the cries of many insects by the ordinary system of musical notation. But this method does not show the actual pitch, which is usually several octaves above the staff. It merely serves to ex press the musical intervals. It is known with reasonable certainty He elevates the wing covers, and rubs the that many insects have voices so highly two plates together. If you could rub pitched that they cannot be heard with your shoulder blades together you could the human ear. One evidence of this fact imitate the operation very nicely. Certain grasshoppers make a sound when flying that is like a watchman's rat tle — clacketty-clack, very rapidly re peated. There are also some moths and butterflies which have voices. The "death's-head" moth makes a noise when frightened that strikingly resembles • communicating with each other, the crying of a young baby. How it is is that some people can distinguish cries of insects which are not audible to others. But even if there are a few notes lost to many of us, there is enough insect music to prove vastly entertaining to those who take interest in the insect world, and the peculiar methods of its inhabitants in 32 DOMESTIC ANIMALS CATTLE. CATTLE is a term applied to the lastly, the hair makes it possible for us to whole of that large variety of domestic live in plastered houses, animals known as the Bovine family. In olden times a man's wealth seems to Naturalists have divided them into two have been measured by the number of primary groups — the hump-backed cattle cattle he owned, and during the same (Bos Indicus) and the straight-backed period cattle were used as money, or a cattle (Bos Taurus). medium of exchange. Later when metal Some naturalists claim that these two coinage came into use in Greece the groups are really only different varieties image of an ox was stamped on the new of the same species, while others claim money in commemoration of the old sys- that the marked differences in structure, tem. The same idea has left its impres- habits and voice are such as would indi- sion on the languages of Europe as seen cate a specific distinction. in the Latin word pecunia and the Eng- The hump-backed variety is chiefly lish word "pecuniary," both words being found in India and Africa, while the derived from pecus cattle, straight-backed cattle are common in all America is the great cattle-producing parts of the globe. Cattle seem to have country of the world. In the early set- been domesticated as far back as written tlement of this country the immense and traditional history will take us. tracts of uncultivated grass lands were The remains of the cow and the ox well adapted to cattle-raising, and many have been found as a part of the many were the large herds to be seen west of evidences of the oldest civilizations, their the Ohio river on the great prairies of the bones having been discovered in the same country once known as the Northwest caves with stone axes and stone knives. Territory. But as men came with their That the cow contributed immensely to plows the herds were gradually driven the earlier civilizations cannot be doubt- farther and farther west. Cattle are very ed. Besides contributing to the daily interesting animals when we once get ac- bill of fare she became the common beast quainted with them, of burden, drawing the rudest of plows, The writer, when a boy, had some ex- sleds and carts, and in fact she does the perience herding cattle on an Illinois prai- same to-day to some extent in many parts He. In this particular herd of which I of the world. wish to speak there were about seven The common straight-backed cattle, as hundred head and it required two of us we know them in our country, remain an and also two good shepherd dogs to keep important factor even in this stage of them in control during the early part of civilization; while they are not generally the herding season or until we got them used as beasts of burden, they furnish "broken in," as the old herders used to millions of gallons of milk and number- say. These cattle had been wintered on less pounds of butter, and finally sacri- various farms surrounding the herd ficing their entire bodies to the use of grounds, so when they were brought to man. The principal part of the body gether in the spring there were about fif- goes to the meat block to become teen different clans to contend with, each steaks, roasts and soup bones ; the refuse clan having its recognized leader. Now, flesh going to the manufacture of soaps these leaders are always a source of largely; the hide furnishes most of our trouble to the herder, and especially is leather, the bones become fertilizer, the this true for the first few weeks after hoofs and horns make our glue, and bringing them together. DOMESTIC ANIMALS 35 The whole herd would be grazing and moving slowly along, seemingly perfectly satisfied, when suddenly one of those leaders would raise his head very high in the air and act as if he saw something very interesting a mile away and would immediately start off in a rapid walk, bel lowing two or three times to notify his followers that he was out for a stroll. Then the whole of his clan would follow him at once. They would not go far un- -til the leader would set the pace in a rapid trot. But we always had the remedy at hand for these fellows and immediately one of us would mount a horse and taking a dog make a straight run for the leader and begin to give him the "busi ness end" of a long, heavy whip, the horse being trained to this sort of per formance would keep close to this leader, -allowing us to pour on the whip until he was so completely run down and fagged out generally that he would never aspire to that office again ; in fact, he would lose all interest in cattle politics, not even making a good follower thereafter. But other leaders would spring up and have to be discouraged in the same manner. While these clan leaders gave us more or less trouble during the whole of the season and made it necessary to exercise vigilance, it did not have in it that source •of danger and excitement that we experi enced in a general stampede. We had two of these during this season, one of which turned out rather seriously and furnished enough excitement to have sat isfied the most reckless boy in our vicinity. It was some time the last of the month of May. We had "rounded up" our cattle in the evening as usual, putting them in the "pound" for the night. Our cabin was near the "pound" and situated on higher ground, so we could overlook the entire herd. This "pound" had an area of about ten acres, being enclosed by a very strong wooden fence. It was some time after midnight when we were awakened by the approach of a terrific thunderstorm. We knew the danger of a stampede during these storms and immediately got up, dressed ourselves in our rubber clothes, went to the stable a few yards away and saddled our horses. We were then ready for any emergency. When the lightning flashed we could see the cattle walking in a circle round and round the "pound." Soon the rain began to pour down in tor rents and the storm was on in earnest. It had not been raining long when with a blinding flash the lightning struck a tree just outside the "pound." The shock was so great that it knocked down a number of the cattle, which we saw re gaining their feet during the next flash of lightning. With one mighty surge the cattle mashed down the entire fence on one side of the "pound" and the stam pede was on. We had our horses out in a "jiffy" and calling the dogs we started in hot pursuit. All we dared to 'do was "to follow." There were quite a num ber of trees in the path they took for about eighty rods from the pound. The almost continuous lightning enabled us to follow the cattle. They were running at full speed and it sounded like distant thunder and fairly shook the earth. They ran about a mile when they came to a small lake, which caused them to separate into two distinct herds. I followed one herd and my companion the other. After running about four miles and through a large farm they finally stopped in some heavy timber. I had not long to wait un til daylight, and the storm being over I "rounded up" all I could find and started them back toward the herd grounds, ar riving at the cabin about n A. M., my companion arriving about the same time. After a hurried meal we went out to look for injured cattle and to make a count. We found two dead ones near the pound, which had evidently lost their lives by running against trees. It was several days before we were able to locate all the stragglers. 36 MISCELLANY HOMING PIGEON. Sleep little pigeon and fold your wings, Little blue pigeon with velvet eyes. Sleep to the singing of mother-bird swinging, Swinging the nest where her little one lies. In through the window a moonbeam comes, Little gold moonbeam with misty wings, All silently creeping it asks is he sleeping. Sleeping and dreaming while mother sings ? But sleep little pigeon and fold your wings, Little blue pigeon with mournful eyes. Am I not singing? See I am swinging, Swinging the nest where my darling lies. — Eugene Field. ONE day a carrier pigeon tapped at the window of Mrs. Nansen's home at Christiania. Instantly the window was opened, and the wife of the great Arctic explorer in another moment covered the little messenger with kisses and caresses. The carrier pigeon had been away from the cottage thirty long months, but had not forgotten the way home. It brought a note from Nansen, stating that all was going well with his expedition in the polar regions. Nansen had fastened a message to the bird and turned it loose. The frail courier darted out into the Arc tic air, flew like an arrow over perhaps a thousand miles of frozen waste, and then over another thousand miles of ocean and plain and forest, to enter the window of its waiting mistress and deliver the mes sage which she had been awaiting so anxiously. We boast of human sagacity and endurance, but this loving carrier pigeon, after an absence of thirty months, accomplished a feat so wonderful that we can only give ourselves up to wonder and admiration. Utilization of the homing instinct of the domesticated varieties of the Blue Rock pigeon, the columba livia, by em ploying the birds as messengers for phy sicians living at some distance from their patients, is comparatively new and is the latest evidence of the value of these birds. A few doctors have made the ex periment, and it only remains to prove the facility with which the pigeons can be employed in order to determine whether they are likely to come into general use for this purpose. The importance of establishing pigeon service for busy, overworked country doctors is strongly urged in favor of the plan, and it is agreed that there is no other such efficient or speedy means of carrying messages. The carrier dove, which is the emblem of peace, though used in these times for carrying war messages, obeys the one governing impulse of its small heart when, released at a distance from its mate and its nest, it turns with marvel ous fidelity to its home cote. With no compass except that home-seeking in stinct, no reliance except in the exqui sitely adjusted beat of its wings, it soars upward until its keen eyesight and quick perceptions give certainty of direction ; then, at a splendid pace of 1,400 yards in a minute, it speeds on its journey home. MATED BIRDS THE BEST. Once a male bird has regularly mated he will fly back to his duties as a husband and father as fast as he can. These du ties are serious and practical, for the male bird bears his full share in sitting upon the eggs and in feeding the nest lings when hatched, for which purpose both cock and hen possess special facul ties and functions. The homing tendency acts best when it is entirely concentrated. For example, it has been found that a mated pair will not fly home together with anything like proper certainty. They stop and dally by the way ; they behave like holiday people who have "got some body to mind the babies." In order to have trustworthy messen gers for war or peace the pigeons must not be bachelors nor loafers nor be flown with associates ; they must be the respect- MISCELLANY 37 able mated birds with establishments, so that in employing them for war messen gers one actually presses domestic virtue, as well as love and parental instinct, into the service of the military. But even the peaceful pigeon can be sometimes pugnacious on his own ac count, and a jealous fantail, or tumbler, or Antwerp, or Jacobin often will conduct himself like a game cock, though painters and poets from time immemorial have agreed to regard this bird as the natural emblem of gentleness and peace. It is the accepted token of the Holy Spirit, "which descended in the form of a dove." All lit eratures are full of this thought. PIGEONS IN LEGEND AND STORY. The Arabs have a story that when an angel of Allah offered to King Solomon the water of immortality in a ruby cup it was a dove that dissuaded him from drinking it, and thereby from living mournfully to survive those whom he loved in an earth grown desolate and lonely. And it was because of the ma ternal courage of a dove which had fol lowed its captive nestlings all the way to the prophet's house that Mohammed insti tuted that merciful decree which still pre vails all over the East, and which forbids true believers to touch or even to taste of the flesh of any creature which has not been "hallalled" ; that is to say, over which, while alive, the prayer of pardona ble bloodshed has not been uttered. The birds, gentle and stainless, which Sappho sang of, harnessed to the golden chariot of the "Splendor-throned Queen, immortal Aphrodite," in some cases have been converted into messengers of death and ruin. Some hold that this is better than to see them immolated for prizes by unsportsmanlike gunners at Monte Carlo and such places, for the birds remain un aware of their new duties, and carrv mes- •s sages from a beleaguered fortress, or the call for aid from a sinking warship, or the state of a suffering patient, alike careless ly and ignorantly, as if the missives tied to their feet were perfumed messages sent by lovers. USED BY PHYSICIANS. In the early '905 Dr. S. Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia used pigeons in the case of a patient ill of nerve fatigue, several miles from his home, thus accomplishing two purposes — a daily report and the sal utary effect of leading the worn mind of the patient into a new channel. Dr. Philip Arnold, in a recent medical journal, tells of receiving messages from his patients in the country every day, in addition to his daily visits to them. His plan usually is to leave a pigeon the day he makes a visit, and direct that the pigeon be liberated the next day with such a message as he requires. With a little care in the instruction of the nurse, he is informed of the condition of the pa tient before he starts to make his next visit. In a country practice this is im portant, since it enables the physician to judge what will be needed for his patient in the next twenty-four hours, and the country physician usually is his own druggist. Then, again, country doctors cannot often make more than one call on a pa tient in twenty-four hours, and by an aerial messenger service they can get practically the same information as the doctors in the city or hospital practice by leaving two pigeons and getting morning and evening reports. The country doctor often is called from one patient to other persons sick in the neighborhood. This will make him late in getting back, and it is a great convenience if he can send this information home, practically with the same speed as the city practitioner through the medium of the telephone ser vice. TELLS WHAT KIND TO USE. Dr. Arnold suggests that physicians wishing to take this matter up in earnest first of all should purchase only the best of Belgian homing pigeons, one or two pairs well mated. No reliance can be placed on young birds newly purchased for message carriers. Young birds, to be of service, must have been hatched in the home loft. The old birds secured for breeding must not be given their liberty until they have hatched one or two broods. The youngsters at a certain age can be trained. A young pigeon begins his racing life when he is ten weeks old, with graduated journeys, varying from two to fifty and seventy miles in length. At the age of six months he is usually fed on a diet of beans and maple peas for a few months 38 MISCELLANY of hard racing work, the season com- country that have covered more than mencing in April. The length of the races 1,000 miles, air line, the extreme distance varies from 50 or 100 to as much as 600 covered being 1,212 miles, miles. There is hot competition between It seems really impossible to extinguish rival fanciers and great excitement about the homing instinct in a good pigeon. A the results. story is told of a French carrier pigeon Winter is the pigeon's time of retire- which was captured by the German sol- ment. He is not compelled to race, for diers during the siege of Paris in 1870. racing is only profitable when wind is fair The bird was being carried in a balloon and the air is absolutely clear. Whatever from Paris to some point in the countfy, the wonderful power that guides the whence it was expected to return to Paris pigeon home over hundreds of miles of with a message. It was taken to the Ger- unknown country, it is certain that sight man headquarters and presented to the plays an important part, for the least sign commander, prince Frederick Charles, of haziness in the air will put the pigeon who sent it to his mother in Germany, in the position of a derelict ship. Here it was placed in a splendid roomy A bird of good quality costs from $5 aviary and carefully fed and nourished ; to $20 when one month old, and a prac- but, although it was kept here, living in ticed racer one year old generally brings the lap of royal luxury for four years, the from $2 s to $100. French pigeon did not forget its father- •ji When using these birds for messenger service the message is written upon the At the end of that time the aviary was thinnest rice paper, rolled up and depos- left open one day. The pigeon flew out, ited in an aluminum holder, which is fas- mounted high in the air, flew about for a tened to the bird's leg. This holder is moment, as if to find the points of the in the shape of a capsule, with a small compass and started in a straight line for band which is easily attached to the leg of Paris. Ten days afterward it beat its the bird. Professor Marion of the Naval wings against the entrance to its old loft Academy at Annapolis invented the hold- in the Boulevard de Clichy. There it was er, which is water tight when the lid is recognized and its case being brought to on, and weighs but eight grains. One of public attention it was honored as a pa- the most remarkable incidents illustrating triot returned from foreign captivity. It the wonderful memory of a homing remained at the Paris Jardin d'Acclima- pigeon was that of a bird made a prisoner tation until it died in 1878. during the Franco-Prussian war. This Jn Belgium, where pigeon racing is as pigeon after being in captivity for ten great sport as horse racing is in England years immediately returned to its home and America, the birds have made a speed after being liberated from confinement in of seventy miles an hour for short dis- a foreign country. tances. From thirty to forty miles an The hardships which these birds will hour, is, however, the average speed of unflinchingly face in returning home can the average bird. Though not by nature hardly be appreciated by those who are strong of wing or equipped for long not familiar with them. Birds so badly flight, the birds have been known to cover shot or torn by hawks as to be rendered great 'distances. Probably the longest almost helpless, notwithstanding their in- journey of which there is any record was juries will struggle onward until at last made some ten years ago. A family of their home is reached. From extreme birds had been taken from Belgium to distances, such as points beyond 500 New York, where they were to be bred miles, the birds are at a great disadvan- and trained. They were released from tage, inasmuch as they are thereby forced the cote before they had been thoroughly to forage for themselves, something they domesticated, and straightway disap- are not trained to do. As a result they peared. Two weeks later three of the are unreliable and slow when called upon pigeons, bedraggled, weary and ^ nearly for such work. There are birds which dead, arrived at their native cote in Bel- have homed 614 miles air line the day af- gium. How they had made the long ter, and there are a few pigeons in this ocean voyage nobody ever knew, but they MISCELLANY 41 had evidently accomplished it in some younger, to please the rising generation manner, and, out of respect for their won- he made a dove cote and procured a few derful achievement, they were allowed to tame pigeons. In the course of time the remain in the home to regain which they birds had increased by not only rearing had suffered so much. young, but by inducing strange birds to The San Francisco Examiner records accept the quarters offered. The pigeons that "Sadie Jones, C. 2i,^g2," is the champion long-distance homing pigeon of America, and the world, so far as is known. She flew from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Philadelphia, a distance of 1,202 12-100 miles in 16 days and 3 hours. Sadie Jones is the property of M. S. Sul livan, of West Philadelphia, and was five years of age at the time of making the snare and escaped with a slip noose on record. She was named after the daugh- one leg that had cut into the flesh, making ter of the National Race Secretary, the poor bird very lame, came with the Charles H. Jones, and was personally rest. countermarked and shipped by that young After considerable pains the bird was lady, together with five others. She was caught, the string cut, and the bird placed the only one to return. So far as known on the ground. It stood a moment as if no other pigeon has ever flown this dis- amazed, and then flew up to its liberator's tance. knee and fed out of his hand. When the writer was many years were regularly fed, the meal hour being announced by a peculiar whistle. The dinner call was soon known to all the birds in the place, and the yard would im mediately fill with birds from every direc tion when the whistle was blown. On one occasion a lame bird in the flock, which had evidently been caught in a THE TWO-STORIED NEST. ETHEL MORTON. Looking from my study window, one day, last June, I noticed a little yellow and brown bird, who was hopping from bush to bush. She was busily chattering to an other bird, who sat on a neighboring tree, evidently much enjoying a worm he was eating. I knew the pair, directly, as my friends of the season before, — the Yellow Warblers. Mrs. Warbler was looking for a good place to build her nest. After some con sideration, she decided on a bush in front of my window. Off she flew to a field of dandelions, and soon returned with several pieces of dandelion fluff. It took quite a while to complete the house, for Mrs. W. was very neat and precise in her work, but after it was finished, Mr. Warb ler came over to look at it (he had left the building to his wife!), and as he seemed perfectly satisfied with it, Mrs. Warbler was happy. Not many days after this, some pretty little blue eggs lay snugly in the nest, and Mrs. Warbler was a mother ! Alas ! On the day the young Warblers left their shells, their mother came home from a call on Mrs. Robin, to find her children crying most bitterly. An ugly Cowbird had dropped its great, brown, spotted egg right in their beautiful parlor ! (It seems to be a custom with these birds, to leave their eggs in the nests of their unfortu nate neighbors, rather than hatch them themselves.) Poor, little Mrs. Warbler! She tried with all her strength to push the egg out of her home, but without success. So, what do you suppose she did ? Why, she just built another nest on top of the old one ! It was a great deal of trouble, and the young Warblers tried her patience sorely, by persisting in pulling at the tnreads and straws, as she wove the frame-work of her new dwelling. "Labor ts its own reward," however, for there was not a happier couple in all bird land than Mr. and Mrs. Yellow Warbler, when they brought their admiring friends and relations, to see the young Warblers, in the two-storied nest. 42 INDUSTRY WHEAT HARVESTING. J. F. STEWARD. CHAPTER I. When comes the beginning of the end WE HAVE been told, "Ye cannot of barbarism in a nation, then industrial live by bread alone," which is no doubt progress germinates, and in proportion true, but aside from the use of animal as barbarism has decreased, the efforts flesh as food, bread in some form has for improvements in methods adapted to played the greatest part in sustaining reduce human labor have been success- mankind, ful. The cloud that cast its shadow over There have been found, on every con- Europe during the so-called dark ages, tinent and every island of the globe, rude practically suppressed all efforts, and it stone implements that tell, by form only, is only since then that the energies di- of their possible use. We read the story rected to mechanical progress have had a of pre-historic relics largely by compari- fair field. son with modern things, and hence judge Following the reaping hook, not many that the crescent-shaped flint implements, centuries ago, came the scythe for mow- serrated upon their inner edge, to be ing hay. It was but an enlarged reaping seen in the British Museum and else- hook, so planned as to call into action where, may have been used by trie sav- the entire physical system, however, in- ages as reaping hooks. stead of the mere right arm, and with it The natural habitat of wheat must a man was able to lay in swath many necessarily remain a matter of dispute, times more grass than had been accom- for history cannot tell us of the time plished by any previous implement. In when the wild grain began to be culti- America at the beginning of this cen- vated by the savages, whose traditions tury, the scythe had been modified so as are silent, nor when it was introduced to adapt it to the cutting of grain, and into the various countries. with it the straw was laid in a neat swath The first harvest scenes depicted are by the man who swung it, ready to be found upon the stones of ancient Egypt, raked and bound by another. This, how- representing slaves with reaping hooks, ever, was nothing more than an imple- at their tasks, scenes cut there before the ment. time of Moses — long before the exodus. We read that machines were attempted In the ruins of Egypt bronze reaping before the beginning of the present cen- hooks have been found, differing little tury and are told by Pliny and others of from those now used for trimming lawn a box-like cart pushed by an ox between nooks. In the sediment of Lake Neu- rearwardly extending thills, and having chatel, in Switzerland, where have been a comb at front, adapted to pull the heads discovered the remains of an ancient and from the standing grain. A man walk- forgotten people, whom we name merely ing beside with a hoe-like instrument "the Lake Dwellers," wheat and other scraped the heads into the box. It is no grains have been found, and also reap- marvel that this implement, made by the ing hooks of bronze; and from the bogs Gauls as early as A. D. I, did not come of the Scandinavian countries, where, in into general use. conformity with religious rites, were We also read that a machine was at- thrown prized articles, upon the death of tempted in Hungary during the latter their owners, sickles have been taken. part of the eighteenth century, and that From the time of bronze in Egypt, to prizes were offered in England for a the centuries following the dark ages, the reaping machine. It is safe for us to reaping hook was probably the only im- consider, however, the efforts of Mr. plement used in the harvest. Gladstone, of England, who, in 1806, pro- INDUSTRY 43 duced a machine adapted to cut grain and deliver it in a swath beside the machine. With what success, we are mainly left to judge by the construction of the machine itself, which embodied many of the valu able elements of the reaping machine that held sway during the second third of the present century, only to be forced into the background by better harvesting methods. In order to give Mr. Gladstone the credit due him, it is proper to say that his reaper, like nine-tenths of the modern harvesting machines, was .adapted to be drawn, and not pushed, as the implement 'GLADSTONE. of the Gauls was. Its cutting apparatus was extended well to the right, so that the horse drawing it might walk beside the grain to be cut. It was supported upon wheels, one at the outer extremity of the cutting apparatus, and the other substantially in the position now placed in harvesting machines, and his cutting de vices were operated by it. His machine was not only adapted to cut the grain, but deliver it at one side in order to make a clear path of travel in cutting the next round. His machine did not come into use, but was patented and thus made public. Whether practical in detail or not mat ters little, for he left to the world as a legacy the foundation principles of the reaping machine. Those who followed enriched the -art only by additions and modifications. A second patent was granted to him covering improvements. His machine might leave the grain in almost a con tinuous swath or in gavels, which de pended only upon the number of raking devices applied to his rotary cutting ap paratus. In the patent granted to Salmon, who followed him in 1808, is found a grain receiving platform, differing in no respect from that of the early practical reaper, a cutting apparatus placed at its forward edge, a divider to separate the grain be ing cut from that left standing, and an orbitally moving rake adapted to remove the grain in gavels to the ground. While it is of actual achievements that we shall mainly write, it is well to say that the actual achievement of the reap ing machine was accomplished largely from knowledge given us by those early inventors, and it is proper that we point out precisely what they have taught us, for more than thirty machines have been patented in England and America before the machine of Bell, the Scotch preacher, of 1828, was placed upon the market in England. Kerr, Smith and others added their mite of knowledge, and in 1822 Henry- Ogle, an English schoolmaster, invented a reaping machine that was made by a Mr. Brown, and which cut one acre per hour. The trial was so successful that OGLE. the laborers in the field, fearing the com petition of the innovation, mobbed the inventor and maker and broke up the ma chine. The patent shows its construc tion. The cutting apparatus of modern harv esting machines is a modified form of shears ; in the early machines, shears, pure and simple, were arranged in series be fore the receiving platform. As cutting devices they operated well, but were ob jectionable on account of the fact that they did not clear themselves of shreds of straw and grass. Bell's machine may be considered the first practical reaper, because in it was found the essential combination of me- 44 INDUSTRY chanical elements, not only of the reaping machine, but largely of the modern self- binding harvester. His machines were so successful that, as late as 1864, they were busy in the harvest fields of Eng land, and laid a swath more perfect than BELL. any implement used before them; they were followed by a troop of girls, the like of which is still seen in the fields of those sections of England and Scotland where the modern self-binding harvester has not yet found its way. The erstwhile Scotch student, when working behind closed doors on the little farm worked by his father, though in spired by high hopes, little dreamed that he was in any measure laying the founda tion for greater results, and few, at the present day, know that one of the most essential elements of the modern self- binding harvester was reduced to prac tice by that youth who as the Rev. Patrick Bell administered to the spiritual wants of the members of a little flock in Scotland for many years. Two machines, at least, were brought to America, but not until American reap ers had been perfected to such an extent as to meet all of the requirements. Bell's machine was pushed before the horses, as modern headers are. Its reel was supported by forwardly reaching arms as now ; it had dividers and all es sential elements, the only faulty one be ing the cutting apparatus. The story of his efforts, as told by him self, is interesting. The facts pertaining to the construction of his machine may be found in cyclopedias and in court pro ceedings. Although America is consid ered the cradle of this art, we must bow to Bell and others and claim only that which we have accomplished, founded upon the information and machines they left. In the..fishing village of Nantucket, on the island ''of that name, of Quaker parents, a boy first saw light who later became famous because of his inventive talent. In that little village the whaling industry, upon which success in life de pended, was extensively carried on. Like other boys the lad, Obed Hussey, took to the sea, but tiring, turned his attention to a machine for reaping grain. He made a model of the machine, and in 1832-1833 constructed a machine which he operated in the harvest fields near Cincinnati, Ohio. He "builded better than he knew," for his cutting apparatus sings his praise in the harvest fields of every continent, and will probably do so until man ceases to exist. It has been modi fied in various ways, but no material im provement has_been made since it left his hands. His machine was a combined reaper and mower. He placed his gearing car riage upon two wheels, — not a mowing machine of the present day is constructed otherwise. He jointed his cutting appa- HUSSEY. ratus to the supporting frame in order that the machine might conform to ir regularities of the surface of the ground. Again it may be said not a mowing ma chine of to-day is constructed otherwise. In order to adapt his machine to cutting grain, a detachable grain receiving plat form was applied, and a stand for a raker as well. As "manual delivery reapers" thousands of such machines are made in America and sent to Europe, where the self-binding harvester has- not yet won its way. These four things were new : His cutting1 device ; His raker's stand ; The cutting apparatus jointed to the gearing carriage ; and the Detachable grain receiving platform. Limiting our inquiry to hand raking reapers it is proper to say that this was the culmination. No reaper has ever been made since that time that did not have these elements arranged as he had combined them. In the face of historical facts, court decisions INDUSTRY 47 and patent office records, printer's ink the single wheel reaping and mowing ma- will be wasted in vain in any attempts to chines that found their way upon the win the laurels from the modest Quaker, market subsequent to 1840. The necessities that called for these With the practical features proposed machines were the result of the high by a third of a hundred inventors care- hopes of the pioneers of the West, who, fully embodied in machines at the close finding natural garden spots of dimen- of the first third of the century, came the sions greater than the scope of the eye, practical reaping and mowing machine, plowed and sowed more than they could Nearly one-half of the labor of the harv- reap, — more than labor could there be est field was dispensed with ; the ring of found to reap. Naturally, then, the first the cradle blade, when whetting after the practical machines of America were in- cutting of every round, soon ceased to be vented where the great Western fields, heard. The sound of the cutting device which, in their ripeness, inspired inven- of the reaper and mower was not so mu- tors. sical, but may be likened to the chuckle On a day, during the harvest of 1833, of one in his ecstasy who has succeeded in a group of farmers and idlers were inter- his accomplishment. The burning sun ested in the tests of a reaper about to be scorched but half as many laborers as be- made. Mr. Hussey's machine was start- fore. The labor of weary ones over the ed, but some disarrangement caused de- hot stove in the crude habitations on the lay. An incredulous young man, strong farms was lessened. The harvest time of arm, picked up the implement of one became less dreaded ; the scarcity of help of the cradlers, and swung it with a became less felt, and the hours of labor broad sweep into the grain, declaring were shortened. Homes became more that that was a kind of a reaper to have, cheerful, for the farmers' wives and Mr. Hussey, though possessed of a quiet daughters, before called from household manner characteristic of the Quaker, felt duties into the burning sun, had now stung and asked the bystanders to help moments that could be devoted to plant- him uphill with his machine. He then ing the rose and vines, guided the machine down it on the run, Reflecting upon those early days, ex- and every straw was laid upon the receiv- periences such as can soon only be called ing platform with the exactness in which by the artist, are brought to mind. In it grew. The machine repaired demon- our imagination we see the troop of harv- strated its ability to such an extent that est hands, arisen from an early breakfast, others were ordered for the following taken after an hour's labor at chores, harvest, and manufactured in a little shop moving to the fields often before the sun on the farm of Judge Algernon Foster, has kissed the dew from the lilies that near Cincinnati, Ohio. beckon them on the way, young women For the harvest of 1834 two machines as well as young men; though with a were made and sold, and from that time hard day's labor before them, they are on have continued to be used up to the chatting as merrily as when gathering at present day, where, as said in the so- school in the winter, when the labors on called manual delivery reapers extensively the farm are not so great. In those days used in Europe, they are found, substan- few children who could walk knew lei- tially as constructed bv him, having added sure. The babe was often taken to the thereto only the finishing touches applied field and a still toddling youngster left in by modern mechanics. charge while the mother bound after the As a mowing machine slight improve- cradlers. It seems as if the expression ments have been made ; the only competi- "hungry as a hired man" must have tor for several years was one produced by originated on these western prairies, for Enoch Ambler | patented in 1834. in these early days five meals a day was A single supporting and driving wheel the rule. About mid-forenoon two boys was used in Ambler's, and a reciprocat- were spared from the field long enough to ing cutting apparatus also, but the spe- go for luncheon, soon to return with a cine construction was not like that of Mr. well-filled basket and water jugs. The •Hussey. It came into considerable use, cloth was spread upon the stubble and a and may be considered the prototype of hasty but hearty meal spread. Perhaps 48 INDUSTRY a solitary tree shaded them. So far the harvest scene resembled the picnics we enjoy to-day. In the heat of the day an hour was taken for rest. At mid-after noon another lunch was served. Then at sunset came the supper, only after which, from early morn, the kitchen stove was permitted to lose its blush ; and the milking time, far into the starlight, while the night hawk boomed, and the rest for the day came after bob white and the whip-poor-will had ceased their calls. What a change this century has wrought ! One man now accomplishes as much as sixteen did in the early days. The self-binding harvester of to-day, through the reaping machine, was of a growth so slow that the efforts of a third of a century were required before the reaper was driven to the hillsides — but of this later. A CHARMING HOME. ANNA R. HENDERSON. Wodie and I in the strawberry bed, Searching for strawberries juicy and red ; Breathing the airs of a morning in spring, Listening the notes that the meadow larks sing ; Heart beats and pulse beats keeping in tune With all that is lovely in beautiful June. Sharp little twitters near by us we heard ; Where was the haunt of the dear little bird? Soon the wee nest and its nestlings we found, Safe in a catnip bush, close to the ground; Home of the sparrow, whose chirruping brood Kept their four yellow mouths open for food ; By their fond mother unceasingly fed With morsels of strawberry, fragrant and red. "O, Mamma," said Wodie, "did ever you see So tiny a nest in so tiny a tree ? And isn't it perfectly lovely to stay In the spicy catnip leaves all day? And whenever you wish for something to eat, To dine on a slice of strawberry sweet? To hear the father-bird singing a tune In the old peach tree all the afternoon, And to be shut out from the dew at night By the touch of mother-wings, soft and light? I think when these dear little birdies stray From their home in the catnip bush away, Wherever their dear little forms may go, In the summer's sun or the winter's snow, They will say, as the old folks always do, That their baby days were the best they knew." BIRDS AND NATURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. VIII. SEPTEMBER, 1900. No. 2 SEPTEMBER. The golden-rod is yellow ; The corn is turning brown ; The trees in apple orchards With fruit are bending down. The gentian's bluest fringes Are curling in the sun ; In dusty pods the milkweed Its hidden silk has spun. The sedges flaunt their harvest, In every meadow nook ; And asters by the brook-side Make asters in the brook. From dewy lanes at morning The grapes' sweet odors rise ; At noon the roads all flutter With yellow butterflies. By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer's best of weather, And autumn's best of cheer. Helen Hunt Jackson. Copyright, 1900, by A. W. Mumford. 50 THE MALLOWS. A number of interesting plants are found grouped under the name of the Mallow Family (Malvaceae). They are the common Mallow, a weed of waysides and cultivated grounds ; the Indian Mal low or Velvet-leaf, with its large velvety leaves and yellow flowers, a visitor from India which has escaped from cultivation and become a pest in corn and grain fields and waste places; the Musk Mal low, which has also escaped from our gardens ; the Marsh-Mallow, the root of which abounds in a mucilage that is ex tensively used in the manufacture of con fections ; the Hollyhock of our gardens, which was originally a native of China and the beautiful Rose-Mallow of our illustration. The Mallow Family includes about eight hundred species which are widely distributed in the temperate and tropi cal countries. The technical name is from a Greek word having reference to the soothing effect produced by many of the species, when applied to wounded surfaces. All are herbs. Most of those found in the United States have been intro duced from Europe and Asia. Only a very few are native, and no one of these is very common. The flowers and fruits are all similar in structure to that of the common holly hock. The disk-like fruits of the common round leafed Mallow of our dooryards are often called "cheeses" by the children and are frequently gathered and eaten by them. The cotton plant, one of our most important economic plants, is also closely related to the Mallow. The Cotton of commerce is the woolly hair of the seeds of this plant which is a native of nearly all tropical countries and is cultivated in temperate regions. The beautiful Rose-Mallow has its home in the brackish marshes of the At lantic sea coast. It is also occasionally found on the marshy borders of lakes and rivers of the interior. The plants grow to the height of from three to eight feet. The leaves are egg- shaped and the lower ones are three- lobed. The under side of the leaves is covered with fine and soft whitish hairs. The flowers, produced in August and September, are large, varying from four to eight inches in diameter, and may be solitary or clustered at the top of the stem. The color of the petals is usually a light rose-pink, but occasionally white, with or without crimson at their bases. Neltje Blanchan in "Nature's Garden" speaks of this beautiful plant as follows : "Stately ranks of these magnificent flowers, growing among the tall sedges and 'cat-tails' of the marshes, make the most insensate traveler exclaim at their amazing loveliness. To reach them one must don rubber boots and risk sudden seats in the slippery ooze ; nevertheless, with spade in hand to give one support, it is well worth while to seek them out and dig up some roots to transplant to the garden. Here, strange to say, without salt soil or more water than the average garden receives from showers and hose, this handsomest of our wild flowers soon makes itself delightfully at home under cultivation." I SWAMP ROSE-MALLOW. (Hibiscus cMoscheatos.} FROM "NATURE'S GARDEN " COPYRIGHT 1900, BY DOUrLEOAY, PAGE & COMPANY S3 EAGLE LORE. CURIOUS STORIES OF THE OLD-TIME FAITH IN THE "KING OF THE FEATHERED TRIBES/' Birds were trusted, honored and made tal of the Eastern Empire. The site of the symbols of wisdom and power in the ancient Troy had been settled upon by old time, and they have not, at least in Constantine, and the engineers were en- their emblematical signification, been gaged in surveying the plan of the city, neglected in modern times. The eagle, when an eagle swooped down, seized the in particular, is exalted to a high and po- measuring line, flew away with it and tential distinction. On the banner of a dropped it at Byzantium. At any rate, hundred States he is displayed as a con- this was the story told to the soldiers and quering symbol and floats to-day over marines, in order to reconcile them to many a fair realm where Rome's imperial the change of plan, which they might standard never penetrated. otherwise have deemed an unfavorable The eagle has always been considered omen, though the splendid situation of a royal bird, and was a favorite with the the new capital and its long prosperity, poets. They called him king of the air prove how admirably sagacious was the and made him bear the thunderbolts of choice of its founder. Jove. Euripides tells us that "the birds In the reign of Ancus Martius, King in general are the messengers of the gods, of Rome, a wealthy man, whose but the eagle is king, and interpreter of name was Tarquin, came to that city the great deity Jupiter." from one of the Etruscan States. Sitting The eagle figures in the early legends beside his wife in his chariot, as he ap- of all people. When the ancient Aztecs, proached the gates of Rome, an eagle, it the mound-builders of the Mississippi is said, plucked his cap from his head, Valley, were moving southward under flew up in the air, and then, returning, Mexi, their king, their god, Vitziputzli, placed it on his head again. Not a few whose image was borne in a tabernacle suspect that the eagle was a tame one and made of reeds and placed in the center of had been taught to perform this trick. If the encampment whenever they halted, so, however, the apparent prodigy lost directed them to settle where they should none of its effect in the popular belief, find an eagle sitting on a fig-tree growing and Tarquin succeeded Ancus as King out of a rock in a lake. After a series of of Rome. The eagle's head on the Ro- wanderings and adventures that do not man sceptre, and later on its standard, shrink from comparison with the most took its origin from this occurrence, extravagant legends of the heroic ages of Plutarch, in his life of Theseus, relates antiquity, they at last beheld perched on a that when Cymon was sent by the Athen- shrub in the midst of the lake of Tenoch- ians to procure the bones of that hero, titlan a royal eagle with a serpent in his who had long before been buried in Scy- talons and his broad wings opened to the ros, to reinter them in his former capital, rising sun. They hailed the auspicious he found great difficulty in ascertaining omen and laid the foundation of their cap- the burial place of the ancient monarch, ital by sinking piles into the shallows. While prosecuting his search, however, This legend is commemorated by the he chanced to observe an eagle that had device of the eagle and the cactus, which alighted on a small elevation and was try- forms the arms of the modern Mexican ing with his beak and claws to break the Republic. sod. Considering this a fortunate omen, A goose, it is said, saved Rome once they explored the place and discovered upon a time, but it was an eagle that di- the coffin of a man of extraordinary size, rected the selection of the ancient Byzan- with a lance of brass and a sword lying tium — now Constantinople — as the capn by it. These relics were conveyed to 54 Athens amid great rejoicing, where they her and afterwards married her. When a found a resting place in the famous tern- new emperor was wanted in Germany he pie of Theseus, whose ruins are still in obtained the election through the influ- existence. ence of his wife's relatives. In this ro- The old historians state that the Greek mantic fashion began the glory of the poet Aeschylus lost his life through an present reigning house of Austria, eagle's mistaking his bald head for a rock j have anuded to the prominence of and dropping a tortoise upon it in order eagies in the arms of nations and individ- to break the shell of his amphibious prey, uals. The famous ensign of the Roman but which broke, instead, the poet's skull, legions verified the text of Scripture That an eagle, proverbially the keenest- when, in referring to the eagle, Job says : sighted of created things, should mistake "Where the slain are there is she," for a man s head for a stone is absurd be- the Roman bird flew over nearly the yond the necessity of comment. The whole known world and delighted in de- story ^is probably intended for an allegory, struction and in threatening it. The By- showing how stupidity can overwhelm zantine Caesars sported a double-headed ims, or a dull criticism smash a lively eagie to indicate that they were lords of P°T *' A T-% b°tn tne Eastern and the Western world. In A. D. 431 there was war between the The Russians adopted the symbol from hmperor rheodosms [I. and Gensenc those princes. About four hundred years the Vandal, and Marcian, the general of ago a ladV) who ciaimed to be the heir of the former, was taken prisoner. The un- the Byzantine Emperor, married Ivan fortunate captive was doomed to death. IIL, Czar of Russia, who, therefore, as- At the place of execution an eagle alight- sumed the Greek arms> whkh si_ ed on his head and sat there some time bly be restored again to Constantinople undismayed by the tumult around it. Up- by Russian arms on seeing this, and believing that the cap- -ru TT , c' , , tive was destined for soml exalted for- w TheflUnited States^ chose for her em- tune, Genseric pardoned him and sent bk™ tbe sam,e imPenal /nd triumphant him home. About eighteen years after- bird' . Some have Considered it as not al- wards Theodosius died, and, as his sister ****? an aPP™Pnate device for our had married Marcian, the latter became reP^Hcan government. Students of nat- Emperor of Constantinople. ural h^ory have observed that the eagle During the wars between the Chris- 1S mean and c.owa^ly. He lives, more- tians and the Moors, of Spain, a Spanish °vefr> a ^lfe, of rafne' Pandering birds knight engaged in combat with a gigan- hat a^ bo*der and m^re mdus1tn°us than tic Moslem. The conflict remained un- limself" fhls * r*Jher a bad character decided for a long time, but at last the for our natlonal bird' Spaniard began to lose ground. At this rhe ancients would probably be horri- juncture an eagle, swooping from above, &ed at such a criticism of their royal bird, flew into the face of the Moorish giant, and, after all, it is not surprising that they and, taking advantage of this sudden and held him in such reverence. These peo- miraculous intervention, the Spanish pie of the long ago had no books nor champion plunged his sword into the newspapers, but they were proficient stu- heart of his antagonist, thus winning the dents in the book of nature. By them the battle. birds were accounted prophets, and by Rudolph, count of Hapsburg, one their varied flights they foretold future morning was looking out of his castle events and regulated the movements and window upon the surrounding country, enterprises of nations, and while thus engaged noticed an eagle We call the wisdom of birds instinct, circling strangely above a certain place but they considered it divine intelligence, in the forest. Taking some men at arms Nor was it strange that they should take he proceeded to the spot, where he found them for the interpreters of fate, seeing a beautiful and high-born lady held cap- that in many things the birds were wiser tive by a band of robbers. He rescued than themselves, for they seemed to have 55 a knowledge of the future that was denied your watch-coats, and buy light dresses to man. for the summer. We birds are the hinge We have some idea of how these peo- of everything you do. We regulate your pie regarded the movements of the birds merchandise, your eating and drinking, from one of the ancient Greek writers, and your marriages." who, in a play entitled "The Birds," This Greek play-writer probably makes them give the following account of voiced the sentiments of the majority of themselves : "We point out to man the the people, who had implicit faith in what work of each season. When the crow they called "the prophecies of the birds ;" takes his flight across the Mediterranean and it is not surprising that they en- it is seed-time — time for the pilot to sea- dowed the eagle — the king of the feath- son his timber. The kite tells you when ered tribes — with almost supernatural you ought to shear your sheep ; the swal- wisdom, low shows you when you ought to sell Phebe Westcott Humphrey. THE SNOWDROPS PHILOSOPHY. "I should think you'd lose heart in this frosty air," Said a sparrow one day to a snowdrop fair. "You're almost hidden down there in the snow, And I see you shiver whene'er the winds blow. If I were you I wouldn't bloom If I couldn't grow with the roses in June. What right have they any more than you, To live in the summer when skies are blue And bright with sunshine. the whole long day? They have it easy enough, I must say ; But you're so meekly quiet and white, You're afraid to speak up when you have the right." "But, my dear," said the snowdrop, "can't you see That summer can do very well without me? My place is to blossom right here in the snow, No matter where the roses grow. It's lovely to be a summer flower, But I am content to do all in my power To sweeten the gloom of this wintry day, And be brave if the sky is so cold and gray. I cannot be helpful by being sad ; I have my work and that makes me glad To bloom my fairest and grow my best, And let kind nature do all the rest. Wildea Wood. 56 THE GLADNESS OF NATURE. Is this a time to be cloudy and sad, When our mother Nature laughs around, When even the deep blue heavens look glad, And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground ? There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren, And the gossip of swallows through all the sky ; The ground-squirrel gaily chirps by his den, And the wilding-bee hums merrily by. The clouds are at play in the azure space, And their shadows at play on the bright green vale, And here they stretch to frolic chase, And there they roll on the easy gale. There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower ; There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree ; There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower, And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea. And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray ; On the leaping waters and gay young isles- Ay, look, and he'll smile thy gloom away ! William Cullen Bryant. iblic Library, f. F>w < N.^}' LADY'S SLIPPER. (Cypripedium hirsutum.) COPYRIGHT 1900. BV A. W MUMFORD, CHICAGO 59 FLOWERS AND THEIR INVITED GUESTS. It must be taken for granted in this paper that the reader has such knowledge of the parts of the flower as could be ob tained from the paper on "A Typical Flower/' printed in the June number. When flowers first appeared it became necessary to secure the transfer of the pollen grains to the stigmas. This was necessary in order that the ovule might be developed into a seed containing a young plant or embryo. At first the cur rents of air were selected as the agents of this pollen transfer, and the flowers were adapted to what is known as wind- pollination. As the wind is an inanimate agent any transfer by it is largely a matter of chance. In order to increase the chances of successful pollination it was necessary for pollen to be developed in enormous quantities, so that it might fall like rain. In this way stigmas would be reached, but at the same time an enor mous amount of pollen would be wasted. The evergreens are good illustrations of wind-pollinated plants, and their showers of pollen are very familar to those who live near pine forests. When these show ers come down in unaccustomed regions they are often spoken of as "showers of sulphur," and the local newspapers are. full of accounts of the mysterious sub stance. In wind-pollinated plants not only must the pollen be excessively abundant, but it must also be very light and dry. Some times the buoyancy is increased by the development of wings on the pollen grains, as in the case of pines. This habit of pollination is found not only among the evergreens, but also among many im portant families of the higher plants, as in the ordinary forest trees, the grasses, etc. When the higher forms appeared, how ever, flowers of a different character gave evidence that a new type of pollination was being devised. Instead of the old wasteful method, insects were called in to act as agents of the transfer. By securing an animate agent there is a definiteness in the pollination and a saving in pollen pro duction which is quite in contrast with the wind method. It must not be sup posed that all flowers have learned to use insects with equal skill, for many of them may be said to be clumsy in their arrange ments. On the other hand, certain fami lies have reached a high degree of organi zation in this regard, and arrange for in sect visits with a skill and completeness of organization which is astonishing. In order to secure visits from insects, so that pollination may be effected, flowers have been compelled to do several things. In the first place, they must pro vide an attractive food. This has taken two prominent forms, namely, nectar and pollen. There are insects, such as butter flies, which are not only attracted by the nectar, but whose mouth parts have only been adapted for sucking up a liquid. There are other insects, however, like the bees, wasps, etc., which are able to take the more substantial pollen as food. Ac cordingly insects which visit flowers may be roughly divided into the two classes, nectar-feeders and pollen-feeders. In the second place, the flower must notify the insect in some way that the food is present. This is done primarily by the odors which flowers give off. It must not be supposed that odors which are sensible to us are the only ones sensi ble to insects, for in general their sense of smell is far keener than ours. It is also probably true that the display of color, which is so conspicuously associated with flowers, is an attraction to insects, al though this has become somewhat doubt ful lately by the discovery that certain insects which were thought to be attract ed by color have proved to be color blind. At present, however, we have no reason to suppose that color is not associated in some prominent way with the visits of insects. It should be noticed, also, that two kinds of pollination are possible. The pollen may be transferred to the stigma of its own flower, or it may be carried to i he stigma in some other flower, and iliis other flower may be some distance away. 60 The former method may be called self- pollination, the latter cross-pollination. It seems evident that flowers in general have made every effort to secure cross- pollination. This would seem to imply that it is a better method for some reason, although we may not be able to explain why. Apparently, however, while flow ers in general have tried to secure cross- pollination, they have not entirely aban doned the chances of self-pollination, so that if one should fail the other may be used. In this way it will be found that a great many plants have two kinds of flow ers, the ordinary showy kind, and in addi tion to them inconspicuous flowers which are never seen except by those acquainted with their presence. For example, in the common violet, in addition to those flow ers with which everyone is familiar, oth-- ers are developed which are concealed by the cluster of leaves, which never open, but which are able to produce very well developed seeds. With nectar and pollen provided as food, and with odor and color notifying the insects of their presence, it remains to be noted that the suitable insects are those which fly. A creeping insect is of no avail in the work of pollination, since the pollen will be rubbed from its body as it crawls from one flower to the next. How the flowers ward off the visits of creeping insects, -which are attracted as well as the flying ones to the food provided, will be described in a subsequent paper.' A good illustration of the workings of insect pollination may be found in the sweet pea, or in any member of the pea family. The flower has a rough resem blance to a butterfly, whose projecting body is represented by a structure like the keel of a boat. In this keel is a clus ter of stamens, and also the pistil with its stigma at the top. While lying in this keel the stamens shed their pollen upon the style, which usually has hairs or some sticky surface to receive it. Accordingly the style bears the stigma on top and masses of pollen stuck to its sides be.low. An insect being attracted to such a flower naturally lands upon the keel as upon a shelf, with its head toward the center of the flower, where the nectar is deposited. If the insect is heavy enough the weight of its body pushes down the keel, but the contained style is anchored, so that it seems to dart out, and strikes the insect's body, first with the stigma at the tip, and then glancing along rubs its side against the body of the insect. The insect flies away with pollen rubbed .upon its body, and when it goes through the same per formance at another flower, the new stig ma strikes it first and gets some of the pollen, and then some more pollen is smeared on, and so the pollen is carried from one flower to the stigma of another flower. It is easy to see the effect of the weight of a heavy insect by pressing down the keel with a pencil, when the style will be seen to dart forth at the tip. Perhaps one of the most common ways of securing pollination is that in which the pollen and stigma are not ready at the same time in the same flower. The pollen may be ready to shed, but the stigma is not ready to receive, or the re verse may be true. This would seem very effective in preventing self-pollina tion. Illustrations of this kind are ex ceedingly numerous, but perhaps as com mon a one as any is furnished by the great fireweed, Epilobium. It has a con spicuous purple flower, and if a patch of the plants be examined the flowers will be found in two conditions. In one set the cluster of stamens will be found pro jecting straight out from the flower, while the style with its stigma is turned back out of the way under the flower. In the other set the stamens, having shed their pollen, are turned back behind the flower, while the style has straightened up, and the mature stigma holds the same posi tion that the anthers did the day before. An insect, in visiting such a group, there fore, may fly straight towards a flower whose stamens are projecting and shed ding, and its body will be dusted with the pollen. If it now flies to a flower which is a little older, whose stamens are out of the way, but whose style is projecting, its body carrying the pollen will strike the stigma. In this way the pollen is very effectively transferred from one flower to another. It would be impossible to give any ade quate account of the subject of insect- pollination in general, as it is an immense 61 subject with an ever-increasing literature, the stigma, and in receiving more pollen Every kind of flower has its own particu- for another flower. lar way of solving the problem, so that the One of the most remarkable cases of in- subject will never be completed until all sect-pollination is that shown by the ordi- flowers have been questioned and their nary Yucca, which is pollinated by a small answers obtained. moth, the plant and the moth being very Any account, however brief, should not • dependent upon one another. The flow- omit mention of the orchids, which in the ers of Yucca occur in very large prom- matter of insect-pollination have reached inent clusters, and hang like bells. In the highest degree of organization. So each bell-shaped flower there are six detailed are their adaptations that each hanging stamens, and a central ovary kind of flower is adapted to a particular ribbed lengthwise like a melon. At the kind of insect. The accounts given of the tip of the ovary is a funnel-shaped open- various ways in which orchids attract ing, which is the stigma. During the day insects and secure pollination really sur- the moth hides quietly in the recesses of pass belief, until one has actually ob- the flower, but at dusk she becomes very served some of the plants and their in- active. She travels down the stamens, sects at work. Any greenhouse furnishes and, resting on'the open anthers, scrapes abundant examples of orchids, and our out the somewhat sticky pollen with her illustration represents one of the most front legs. Holding the little mass of common of our native orchids, the ordi- pollen she runs up on the ovary, stands nary yellow Ladyslipper. In most orchid astride of one of the furrows, pierces flowers there is a long tubular spur, at the through the wall with her ovipositor, and bottom of which the nectar is found, deposits an egg in an ovule. After depos- which is to be reached by long probosces, iting several eggs, she runs to the apex such as can be found only in moths and of the ovary and begins to crowd the mass butterflies. In Ladyslippers, however, of pollen she has collected into the funnel- there is a different arrangement. The like stigma. These actions are repeated flowers have a conspicuous pouch in several times, until many eggs are depos- which the nectar is secreted, and a flap ited and repeated pollination has been overhangs the opening of the pouch. Be- effected. As a result of all this, the flower hind the flap are the two pollen masses, is pollinated and seeds are formed, which between which is the stigmatic surface, develop abundant nourishment for the A bee crowds itself away into the pouch moth ^rvae, whose eggs had been laid and becomes imprisoned, and may fre- in. the ovule Just how the insect learned quently be found buzzing about uneasily. that this ^fhavior on her part would se- The nectar is in the bottom of the pouch, cure - food for her ^oun- 1S hard ta j eL f j- t t i imagine, and after feeding the bee moves toward In stud in flowef there ^ three the opening overhung by the flap, and questions that should be asked: (l) How rubs itself against the stigma and then does it hinder self-pollination?; (2) How against the anthers, receiving the pollen does it secure cross-pollination ? ; (3) How on its back. A visit to another flower will does it discourage the visits of unsuitable result in rubbing some of the pollen upon insects ? John Merle Coulter. 62 THE ASTERS. The mythical origin of the Asters is Asters belong to the Compositae; a family set forth in an old Greek story, which of plants including from ten to twelve states that after the gods had abandoned thousand species and characterized by the earth, because of the crimes and dis- large numbers of flowers, crowded to- sensions that came with the Brazen Age, gether into single heads, each of which Astraea, the goddess of innocence and gives the impression of a single flower, purity, alone remained, endeavoring to What appear to be petals, are known as redeem the degenerate race of mortals, ray flowers and give the characteristic She, too, finally left, and became known color, as the purple, blue or white of the among the stars as the constellation Aster or the yellow of the Sunflower. Virgo, or the Virgin. After the wrath of These rays consist of flowers, whose pet- Jupiter had been appeased by the de- als have been joined together and spread struction of the earth by water, Virgo, out flat, the points of the petals usually noticing that the summit of Mount Par- appearing on the end of the ray. In the nassus had alone escaped the flood, case of the Asters, the ray flowers, which planted there a seed, whose flowers should occur in a single row, are pistillate or have reflect the azure hue of her new home and a pistil and no stamens and hence are whose heart should typify the Golden capable of producing seeds. The center Age that some day will come again to or disk flowers are tubular, yellow in mankind. This plant, Virgo destined as color and perfect, containing both sta- a symbol of her mission of purity and so mens and pistils. The heads are sur- she gave it her early name, Astraea or rounded by an involucre, having leaf- Aster. That the plants might bloom like tips and are variously massed or for all races of men, Zephyrus, the lover branched along the stems of the plant. of Flora, queen of the flowers, took the With few exceptions, the Asters are seeds and distributed them throughout perennial, coming up each year from the the earth from polar snows to the sun- old underground portions and flowering kissed lands of the equator. Hence it in autumn. They vary in height from a is that the Aster, in some of its varied few inches to eight feet or more, but in forms, is found in all countries, over two the case of the New England Aster, the hundred and fifty species being known completed growth is generally from two to botanists. Although the plant is cos- to seven or eight feet. This species has mopolitan, it is essentially an American a stout and somewhat hairy stem clothed form, one hundred and fifty of the total with many leaves which are pointed, have known species belonging to North Amer- entire edges and a clasping base. The ica. Of the balance, Russia claims ray flowers in the common form are pur- twenty, Europe ten and Canada sixty or pie, but in the two varieties of the species, seventy. they are rose-purple or white. It seems as though Nature, after the The plant derives its name from the first blush of spring, relaxed her efforts fact that its general distribution in the for a supreme endeavor towards the close Eastern States together with the beauty of the floral season. Then she assumes of its flowers gained it an early recog- her festal robes and the woodlands and nition among the pioneers of New Eng- fields become gorgeous with the purple of land, where it soon became a favorite, the Asters, the gold of the sunflowers The statement is made that it was the and goldenrod, with here and there the chosen flower of John Alden and Priscilla cardinal and blue of the lobelias. and, on many occasions, old books, Among all this symphony of color, no handed down from revolutionary days, plant is more lavish of its charms than have been found to contain dried speci- the New England Aster (Aster Novae mens of the flowers. Anglae). Botanically considered, the The Late Purple Aster (Aster patens) (Public Li! 65 while not an uncommon form, is one of the altars of the gods and the ancients the most beautiful of all the Asters. The placed great faith in the efficacy of the rays are long and showy, in color pur- leaves as a charm against serpents. The plish-blue or deep violet. The plants at- American Indians have always prized tain a height of from one to three feet, these plants as a cure for skin diseases, the stems having rigid, bristly hairs and calling them the bee flower, as they sup- the leaves, which are entire, have a clasp- posed that the frequent visits of honey ing- base. bees, concentrated in the Asters the vir- The Asters have been highly consid- tues of many other forms of flowers, ered from very early times. Virgil states Charles S. Raddin. that the flowers were used to decorate SCHOOL GARDENS. There is nothing more desolate than farms and gardens are cultivated with the average surroundings of the public new knowledge ; the boys and girls work school, and it would be cheerful news to in the home grounds with greatly in- learn that the recent pamphlet brought creased interest. . Destructive insects and out by the United States Department of disease are watched for. The products Agriculture upon the School Gardens of of the farms and gardens in this district the Rhine might bring about a reform in bring the best prices, because they are this direction. Attention is called to the handled with care and intelligence. The matter by a writer in the Outlook, who first requisite for such work is such prac- finds the pamphlet highly suggestive, tical knowledge as will make success pos- ' Says the writer : "It is a common experi- sible. The introduction of the school ence to enter from an absolutely barren garden into this country is entirely feasi- schoolyard into a schoolroom decorated ble. It would create a new avenue of em- with botanical and natural history charts, ployment for the students in our agricul- and to find these charts and text-books tural colleges and experiment stations ; it are the only mediums used for teaching will make another avenue for the use of these branches of the natural sciences, the knowledge collected by our Depart- The pamphlet above named shows the ment of Agriculture. Our township sys- practical application of the schoolroom tern would make a practical division for work. The grounds are cultivated en- the control of one agricultural supervisor tirely by the pupils,. two hours' work per and instructor." — The Western Journal week being compulsory. The result is of Education, that the community life is affected. The 66 THE FLICKER'S MISTAKE. "My dear," said Mrs. Flicker, one in this tree this very morning, picking bright day, as Mr. Flicker came flying cherries, and I am worn out with flutter- home in high feather, "we have made a ing and fussing and calling, to attract mistake — a horrible mistake/' their attention from the nest." Now, Mr. Flicker was a very polite Mr. Flicker thought he knew boys, bird, but he was so used to his wife's lit- and while he might be considered a fair tie peccadilloes that, though sometimes and generous-minded bird in most things, he listened patiently to her tale of woe, it is a lamentable fact that he never could at other times he just tossed his head, ab- quite understand why Nature in her in- solutely without fear of what man might finite wisdom had thought it necessary do to him. On this particular day the to produce anything so incongruous as warblers were whistling and flashing in a boy. But, as has been said, Mr. Flick- and out of willow trees across the stream, er's reasoning powers were limited. He the wild grape and strawberry and the was sober now — boys always sobered sweet clover made the air fragrant, the him. But after all, he had the spirit and sun shone out gaily from a cloudless sky, digestion of a bird, and even the fussy far and wide on the earth lay greens upon Mrs. Flicker fussed only in a bird-like greens, and overhead stretched heaven's manner. So they talked it over and blue — a June day — why should Mr. hoped for the best, especially as the babies Flicker fear? With Mrs. Flicker it was showed signs of the greatest precocity different ; she had laid the eggs, she had and bade fair to fly away in a few days patiently kept them warm ; she was now and be safe from harm, watching her little baby Flickers jealous- The next day as Mr. Flicker was re ly ; what wonder that she grew morbid turning from his favorite ant-hill, he was and fearful, and exaggerated every small startled by the frightened screams of his annoyance ! Mr. Flicker saw now that wife, and for some time after he reached she was trembling with excitement, as the nest she could do nothing but scream she said again, "We have made a^horri- and cry and hop distractedly from branch ble mistake." to branch. Mr. Flicker followed her "What about ?" asked he. about and tried to comfort her, though "Do you know," she said, solemnly, he felt that this was no imaginary griev- "what kind of a tree this is in which we ance. have put our nest?" "What is it, my love; what is it?" he "A very good tree, indeed," said Mr. begged softly. Flicker, bristling, for he had selected the "Go look in the nest," said she. tree ; "a remarkably fine tree, with this He flew to the nest, and then his cries hollow limb in the midst of so much and shrieks rose above hers, and they foliage." hopped from branch to branch like de- "But, my dear, it is a cherry tree." mented bird-folk. Mr. Flicker, when "So much the better," said the gay Mr. quite himself, was gay and trustful and Flicker; "most birds like cherry trees." debonair, but he was, besides all this, a "Yes, and boys like cherry trees!" proud and natural parent, and when he "Well, and what of that ?" found that one of his precious babies was It will plainly be seen that Mr. Flicker missing, his grief, though loud, was sin- was no logician, but then, he could fly cere. Mrs. Flicker told him how a dread- far, far away toward the heavenly blue, ful, hideous boy, with frightful sprawling while logicians — the very wisest of them legs and arms had climbed the tree to — "on their feet must go plodding and pick cherries — how he had found the walking." nest in spite of all that she could do — how "What of that !" mocked Mrs. Flicker, he had pushed his long arm down into the nervously. "Well, there have been bovs hollow limb and taken out and examined 67 one baby after another, and had then run off with one, putting the others back in the nest. "Oh, help ! help !" suddenly cried poor Mrs. Flicker, "here they come again ! They will take all the others. What shall we do?" Mr. Flicker looked, and, true enough, there they were, coming over the hill through the orchard — two boys, and an other. The agonized cries sounded through all the trees, coming not so much from the Flickers themselves as from the friendly cat-birds and robins and cedar waxwings and sparrows who, forgetting, the slights they had received from the Flickers, joined in a noble effort to at tract the attention of the intruders and keep them away from the cherry tree. On they came, however, paying not the slightest heed to the medley of cries about them — two boys and a gray insignificant person who seemed to be directing the cruel expedition. Straight to the cherry tree they made their way, up went the sprawling boy, and before the crazy birds could tell what had happened, the three were making their way back through the orchard again. The cat birds followed them and the others kept up their cries for some time afterwa:d. At first Mrs. Flicker refused to return to her empty nest, but as night carne on she grew calmer and decided not to aban don her home. She knew she could lay more eggs and raise another family, but she would not believe that there could ever again be such brave and beautiful babies as her stolen ones. As she at last came to the nest, she heard a soft little familiar call, and peeping in — lo! there were the babies just as she had left them except that thestolen one had been returned and lay cuddled safe and warm beside the others! There was a happy Flicker family in the old cherry tree that night. Not long after this the cherries disap peared, and the baby Flickers, one by one, took their flying lessons and flew away on their own strong wings. Then the nest was molested no more. And when the banks of the creek were bright with goldenrod and asters, and the milk weed pods were bursting, the Flickers started on their southern journey. Of course the next summer is a long way off, and no one can tell what may happen. But it might be that even if the Flickers cannot forgive, they can forget — which is the better, after all, if you can do but one. And when the April days come round again, remembering only the fragrant air and the fat ant-hills of the orchard, they may return again to the cherry tree. Who knows ? Nell Kimberly McElhone. 68 TIGER-LILIES. I like not lady-slippers, Nor yet the sweet-pea blossoms, Nor yet the flaky roses, Red, or white as snow ; I like the chaliced lilies, The heavy Eastern lilies, The gorgeous tiger-lilies, That in our gardens grow. For they are tall and slender ; Their mouths are dashed with carmine; And when the wind sweeps by them, On their emerald stalks They bend so proud and graceful— They are Circassian women, The favorites of the Sultan, Adown our garden walks ! And when the rain is falling, I sit beside the window And watch them glow and glisten, How they burn and glow ! O, for the burning lilies, The tender Eastern lilies, The gorgeous tiger-lilies, That in our garden grow ! Thomas Bailey Aldrich. F LOWERS IN THE CRANNIED WALL. Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies ; Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, Little flower — but if I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should know what God and man is. Alfred Tennyson. >48 WILD YELLOW OR CANADIAN LILY. (Lilium Canadense.} FROM 'NATURE'S GARDEN. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY DOU8itOAY, PAGE i COMPA 71 THE WILD YELLOW LILY. Among our common wild flowers, that quickly attract the attention of the observer is the Yellow Lily (Lilium cana- dense). Its home is in the swamps, the wet meadows and fields of Canada and the United States, east of the Missouri river. It is also called the Canada, the Field and the Meadow Lily. This plant, with about forty-five sister species — all beautiful, belongs to the genus Lilium. All are natives of the Northern Hemisphere and are found dis tributed around the world. About six teen species are natives of the United States. The flowers vary in color. Some are red, others white or yellow and some are more or less mottled. No plants are more frequently men tioned in Ancient Myths and by the clas sical poets. Though the white lily (Lilium candidum) was, even before the time of Homer, known as a garden flower, yet the. earliest descriptions of the lilies found in cultivation were writ ten by Gerard in the year 1597. It is thought by some that the "lilies of the field," spoken of in the seventh chapter of Matthew, are the red lily de scribed by Pliny. The white lilies have long been considered the symbol of pu rity and were often used by the great masters in the pictures of the Annuncia tion, in which they were represented as held by the Angel Gabriel. How appro priate is the white lily, with its glossy and pure white petals for the decoration of Easter time ! The slender stalk of the Yellow Lily arises from a scaly bulbous and thickened underground stem, growing to a height of from two to five feet. The leaves are narrow and lance-shaped, from two to six inches in length and usually attached in whorls of from three to eight. Each stalk bears from one to fifteen flowers, the ground color of which is yellow or reddish with brownish spots toward the base of each division, which are six in number and are spreading and grace fully arched. The flowers, appearing in June, July and August, are nodding and vary in length from two to four inches. The fruit pods are oblong, large, and bear numerous seeds. Closely related to the plant of our illus tration, and at times closely resembling it, is the beautiful Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium superbum). This species is wonderfully prolific in the production of flowers, sometimes bearing forty or more on a single stalk. It is one of the tallest of the lilies, and frequently the marshes of the eastern states are transformed by its presence into striking masses of color, orange, orange-yellow or red. 72 WHAT DO WE OWE THE BIRDS? The answer to this question needs to be presented from two distinctly different points of view — the commercial and the esthetic. In presenting the commer cial point of view it will be necessary to ignore the use of any bird as an article of food, because we are now speaking of the living bird. Likewise it will be necessary to ignore the side which might be presented by the millinery trade, be cause that, too, has to do with the dead bird. We shall have occasion to present the general subject of the demands of fashion at a later time. This paper, then, is concerned only with our debt to the living bird. In the June number of Birds and Na ture some general remarks were made about what the birds eat. In this paper it will be necessary to go more into partic ulars in order to get clearly before us just wherein our debt lies. First of all, we owe our physical com fort to the birds, because they check the increase in insect life The mos quito and gnat, the horse fly and common housefly would soon rival the plagues of Egypt were the birds to dis appear. If anyone doubts this let him go into the Cascade mountains where the scarcity of the birds gives great lib erties to the "deer flies." And they take all liberties without so much as a "thank you, I guess I will !" We owe our fruits largely to the birds. This statement anyone may prove by simple experiment. First drive the birds from your garden because you think they are eating the buds and blos soms, instead of the insects which sting the buds. You will be rewarded with a scanty and stunted fruit crop. Next conclude that you won't get fruit any way, and so let the birds do as they please. You will be pretty sure to har vest a fairly good crop at least. Lastly, encourage the birds to visit your garden and orchard in their northward passage, as well as during the summer season. Build nesting boxes for the swallows, wrens and martins. Plant a mulberry tree for the fruit-loving robins and cat birds. Now your fruit and garden are returning an abundant yield of the best grade. If the birds take a little for them selves have they not earned it? There is enough and to spare. We owe corn and other grains largely to the birds, because they help to keep in check the insects which attack the cereals. During the grasshopper plagues very many birds feed upon the grass hoppers which do not usually touch grasshoppers. Probably chief among our grain field helpers is the Bronzed Crackle, who is so much in disfavor for the ravages he makes upon those same fields when the corn is in the roasting- ear stage. But he earns far more than he eats. The birds of prey destroy vast numbers of the little rodents which help themselves too freely to the planted grains. We owe the preservation of the rem nant of our forests, and all our trees and bushes largely to the birds who eat the insects which attack the trees and bushes. The woodpeckers are after the insect which is destroying the tree, not after the life of the tree. Space would fail us to speak of the debt we owe to all the birds. There are the scavenger water-birds — gulls, terns and the like — the scavenger land birds — the vultures — the ducks, geese and swans, who check the encroachments of vegetable life upon our streams, ponds and lakes ; the herons, cranes, rails, coots, gallinules and shore-birds, which feed upon the water and mud-inhabiting in sects and other small animals ; the spar rows and grouse, which destroy vast quantities of the seeds of harmful plants. In short, the only birds about whose use fulness there is any doubt are the Eng lish Sparrow, Crow, Blue Jay and four of the hawks. These are far too few for us to condemn all birds. We cannot afford to overlook the es thetic side of this question. How much of our pleasure and happiness do we owe the birds directly for their intensely busy 73 lives, the neatness and beauty of their Where their lives touch ours we feel an dress, the perpetual joy of their songs? uplifting influence. We are better fitted Can you imagine a world without birds ? for the service which it is our privilege Are the returned warmth and the green to render to the world by the touch of the vegetation all that make the summer bird life. Our horizon is broadened be- months more pleasant than the winter yond the self-interest, the egoistic, to the season ? Rob the tropics of their birds altruistic conception of life. We cannot and you rob them of their heart. Pasa- live in the presence of these creatures so dena, California, is a bird paradise, but full of life without being spurred to more take away its mocking birds, its orioles, earnest effort ourselves. When we fail to its towhees, its gorgeous humming birds, see in the world of nature about us what and the many other birds which enliven it is our privilege to see we are losing that every lawn, and you have taken away one much of life. Let us open our eyes to all of its chief charms. the influences that may shape our lives But it is not simply that we are enter- toward best living. tained by the birds, nor even that we are Lynds Jones, pleased with their neatness and beauty. TO THE VESPER BIRD. Sweet bird of twilight wake in me Bright memories of melody Outpoured from every nesting-tree At early morning gray. O sing that I may ponder on The songs away with noontide gone, Ere shadows troop across the lawn And voices die away. Long have I waited wistfully ; And lest thy gift unheeded be, Lo, now my gardens are for thee, Thou truant all the day ! Frank English. 74 THE VESPER SPARROW. In the fields, the pastures and along the missed him. Wilson, I believe, calls him roadsides of the Eastern United States the Grass-Finch, and was evidently un- and the British Provinces may be found acquainted with his powers of song. The the unobtrusive Vesper Sparrow (Poo- two white lateral quills of his tail, and his caetes gramineus). It is also known by habit of running and skulking a few yards other names such as the Bay-winged in advance of you as you walk through Bunting or Sparrow, the Grass-Finch the fields, are sufficient to identify him. and sometimes, though incorrectly, it is Not in meadows or orchards, but in high, called the Field Sparrow. The latter breezy pasture grounds, will you look for name should only be applied to one of the him. His song is most noticeable after Chipping Sparrows (Spizella pusilla). sundown, when other birds are silent, for The characteristics of the male and the which reason he has been aptly called the female are the same. The exposed part Vesper Sparrow. The farmer following of the outer and the tip of the second tail his team from the field at dusk catches feathers are white. This character is very his sweetest strain. His song is not so marked as the bird alights. The feath- brisk and varied as that of the Song-Spar- ers of the underside of the body are row, being softer and wilder, sweeter and usually yellowish-white and the tops of more plaintive. Add the best parts of the wings are a light chestnut-brown. It the lay of the latter to the sweet vibrat- does not seem to shun one's presence, but ing chant of the Wood Sparrow (Spizella will run along the side of the road, a short pusilla), and you have the evening hymn distance ahead, occasionally stopping for of the Vesper-bird — the poet of the plain observation. unadorned pastures. Go to those broad, The Vesper Sparrow builds its nest on smooth, uplying fields, where the cattle the ground without reference to any and sheep are grazing, and sit down on special plant protection except that of one of the warm, clean stones, and listen grass and other low herbage. The eggs to this song. On every side, near and are usually four in number, the general remote, from out the short grass which color of which is light gray marked, in a the herds are cropping, the strain rises, variable manner, by dull reddish-brown Two or three long, silver notes of rest spots or blotches. and peace, ending in some subdued trills When frightened from her nest the or quavers, constitute each separate song, mother-bird will endeavor to attract the Often you will catch only one or two of attention of the intruder by slowly flying the bars, the breeze having blown the away and occasionally feigning injury by minor part away. Such unambitious, un failing, conscious melody ! It is one of the most Mr. John Burroughs, in his little book, characteristic sounds in Nature. The "Wake Robin," writes in an admirable grass, the stones, the stubble, the furrow, manner of the song and habits of this lit- the quiet herds, and the warm twilight tie bird. He says : "Have you heard the among the hills, are all subtly expressed song of the Field-Sparrow ? If you have in this song ; this is what they are at least lived in a pastoral country, with broad capable of." upland pastures, you could hardly have VESPER SPARROW. (Poocaetes gramineus.) K Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORO, CHICAGO. 77 THE WORSHIP OF NATURE. The ocean looketh up to heaven As 'twere a living thing; The homage of its waves is given In ceaseless worshiping. They kneel upon the sloping sand, As bends the human knee, A beautiful and tireless band, The priesthood of the sea ! They pour the glittering treasures out Which in the deep have birth, And chant their awful hymns about The watching hills of earth. The green earth sends its incense up From every mountain-shrine, From every flower and dewy cup That greeteth the sunshine. The mists are lifted from the rills, . Like the white wing of prayer : They lean above the ancient hills As doing homage there. The forest-tops are lowly cast O'er breezy hill and glen, As if a prayerful spirit pass'd On nature as on men. The clouds weep o'er the fallen world, E'en as repentant love ; Ere, to the blessed breeze unfurl'd, They fade in light above. The sky is as a temple's arch, The blue and wavy air Is glorious with the spirit-march Of messengers at prayer. The gentle moon, the kindling sun, The many stars are given, As shrines to burn earth's incense on, The altar-fires of Heaven ! John Greenleaf Whittier. 78 BIRD-STUDY. To be intimate with Nature is as im portant to the investigator as the ability to technically classify the things found therein. In this connection we copy, by permis sion, the words of Olive Thorne Miller, from the "School Room Methods and Nature Study :" "Recognizing a bird on sight or hear ing, knowing his nest and eggs, when he arrives in the spring, and when he de parts in the fall, does not by any means imply that one is acquainted with the bird himself. All these facts are easily acquired; they have been set down in the books these many years. But whoso really desires to know the little being so beautifully enshrined ; to see his home ways with his mate and lit tle ones ; to find out his personal habits ; his likes and dislikes ; his tastes ; his dis position ; in a word his personality, for him is something very different from book study. He must go into the field and observe for himself; for well as we may know our common birds by sight, glibly as we can explain their anatomy, give their scientific names, and their place in our classification, of their lives and habits we are in almost total igno rance. This is a field of inquiry as fascinating as it is fresh and unexplored. Nothing but the greed of collecting and the pas sion for classifying, could so long have blinded men to the charm of studying life instead of death, the individual in stead of the skin. And this is the beauti ful work left for us to do, to make the world acquainted with the lives of our little brothers in feathers. For this work are needed, patience that knows no fatigue, accuracy of ob servation, enthusiasm that scorns such trifles as wet feet, torn garments, insect bites and stings, burning sun or blistering wind, and above all — lacking which all else is useless — truthfulness that will re port correctly, without exaggeration or coloring. To one possessing these qual ities a whole world of delight is open. Nor is this world so difficult to enter as it seems at first. Science — whose help is needed — has, to be sure, shrouded itself in technicalities, buried its facts under scientific terms, and hidden its names in a dead language. But all this, which perhaps was necessary, can be got over. With a little courage, and some perseve- rence, this bristling array of difficulties may be broken through, and the charm ing goldfinch be as lovely and bewitching under the name of Spinus tristis, as of thistle bird, or yellow bird. How shall we go to work ? This is the first question always. Let me give you a few hints : Some fine morning dress yourself in modest-hued array, dull olive of medium shade best; discard all con spicuous details, of costume; take off rib bons and veils, and all fluttering things ; reject the spring hat with its eccentrici ties of flowers, fruits, feathers, or general fluffiness, and put on a plain shade hat, as near the color of the dress as possible ; leave parasol, bag or basket and book all at home. Slip into a flat pocket on the outside of your gown or coat, a small note book with sharpened pencil attached to it, and suspend by narrow ribbon around the neck, so that it will hang above the waist and be ready for instant use, an opera glass without its case. On your left arm carry a light folding camp stool — and start out. Bid adieu to your friends, and go alone, for the temple of Nature can never be entered in crowds, nor even in pairs. Turn your steps to the best place you know of; an old orchard, a grove with underbrush near a house, a ravine, a swamp, or the edge of woods. Walk 79 slowly and leisurely along, with little noise of footsteps, and without swinging arms. Arrived in your chosen spot look sharply around for the flitting forms of the birds. When you see one, stop at once ; quietly slip your stool off your arm and sit upon it, with as little motion as possible. If you place it against a tree trunk, to furnish a back, you can be com fortable in that one position an hour without moving. Now slowly raise your opera glass to your eyes, adjust the focus to bring the bird clearly before you, and proceed to study him. First you want his de scription so that you can name him. Look very carefully at him, his size and shape, his coloring above and below, his pecu liar markings, the shape of his tail at the end, and the color and shape of the beak. As you settle one point write it in your note book, which .you have quietly drawn out of its pocket. His description recorded, proceed to note his manners ; whether quiet or rest less, whether he jerks his tail, or his head ; walks or hops. See what he is doing; picking up insects, digging them from bark or ground, seeking them among flowers or leaves, or whether he is eating seeds from the grass or weeds. Sit there as long as that bird is in sight, 1 and note down everything he does, even his calls and his song as it sounds to you. When you go home take your manual and look for a description that matches yours. This is where troubles begin, not only the obscure scientific terms, and the Latin names, but the knowing where in that big book to start. -You will be helped by observing what the bird ate. If he hammered on the bark and picked his food from tree trunk or limb, look among the woodpeckers ; if he flew out, made a turn or two and back to his perch seek him among the fly-catchers ; if he was eating seeds, look among the finches ; and so on. When by a little work you have passed this Rubicon — where so many turn back discouraged — you will reap your reward, success. Having persevered, and named your bird without help, you will feel a new pleasure in his acquaintance, as if he belonged to you, and you will never forget him. Then go out and make acquaintance with another. You will find him easier to identify, and as you will become fa miliar with its idiosyncrasies the manual will lose its terrors for you. Of course all this trouble will be avoid ed if you begin with the study of scientific ornithology. But in that case you are in danger of becoming absorbed in the science, and getting to care more for the dry bones and the dead skin, than for the living bird, and thus adding one more to the ornithologists, and taking one from the students of life." THE OREGON JUNCO. Residents of the Atlantic, Middle, the small bushes in quest of food. A Southern and Middle Western States are, great deal of pleasure and interest may doubtless, well acquainted with the slate- be found in studying these birds, espe- colored Junco. This little feathered speci- daily when the ground is covered with men is more familiarly known as "Snow- snow. By casting bread crumbs on the bird." snow, the little fellows flock around, and The Oregon Junco ("Junco hyemalis are easily tamed. In winter their only var. Oregonus") is a sub-species, and is note is a sort of chirp, sometimes uttered found throughout the Pacific coast region several times in quick succession when from California to Sitka. It is, by no alarmed. With the warm days of spring means, confined exclusively to Oregon, they begin their song, sometimes many Its darkest-hued plumage makes the bird singing at once, and soon the majority very conspicuous when the ground is cov- disappear to a higher altitude to breed, ered with a soft and spotless mantle of The Oregon Junco builds its nest in snow. hollows in the ground under low bushes. The sooty-black head, flesh-colored The nest is constructed flush with the bill and white breast, sharply contrast in surface and in holes among the roots of color. On the sides are pinkish colored bushes and trees, and under woodpiles, feathers ; the back is rufous-brown and Usually, the nest is made of dry grasses the two outer tail feathers pure white, rather loosely placed together, with a lin- showing when the bird flies. In west- ing of cowhair, and contains four and ern Oregon it is a winter visitant, arriv- sometimes five handsome greenish-white ing with the first cool days of autumn. eggs, spotted and wreathed with purple. As winter approaches these snowbirds — J. Mayne Baltimore, become more plentiful, hopping about in Olive Thorne Miller, in her fascinating little book, "The First Book of Birds," speaking of how the birds work for us, says : "Chickadees like to eat the eggs of cankerworms ; and for a single meal one of these tiny birds will eat two hundred and fifty eggs, and he will take several meals a day. Now, cankerworms destroy our apples. When they get into an or chard in force, it looks, as Miss Merriam says, as if it had been burned over. Robins, catbirds, and shrikes,, and sev eral others, like to eat cutworms, which destroy grass and other plants. As many as three hundred of them have been found in the stomach of a robin, of course for one meal. Ants are very troublesome in many ways, and three thousand of them have been taken from the stomach of one flicker." Why kill these birds that are so useful to us and so beautify nature? Many oth ers are just as useful and some that occa sionally do damage amply repay us in other ways. 83 THE CALICO BASS. The Calico Bass (Pomoxys sparoides) brownish-green, the blotches being gath- is so called because of the mottled and ered into irregular bunches. The verti- variegated coloring of the body and fins, cal fins also have markings in the form It is also called the Strawberry Bass, the of a network surrounding paler spots. Grass Bass, the Bitter Head, the Lamp- The mouth is large and oblique. The lighter and the Barfish. usual length of the adult is about twelve It is abundant in all the lakes and inches. ponds of the region of the Great Lakes The Calico Bass obtains its food large- and the upper Mississippi river, where it ly from the lower forms of animal life, shows a preference for quiet, cool and such as crustaceans, worms and insects, clear water and grass covered bottoms. It is said that "from the fact that it The Calico Bass is closely related to thrives well in slow-moving waters, it de- the Crappie (Pomoxys annularis) of the serves the favorable consideration of lower Mississippi valley. It is, however, owners of large mill ponds, where there seldom seen where the Crappie is abun- is a steady flow of water, as it requires dant, as the latter prefers muddy sloughs very little care, except the first planting and bayous and is not found as far north of it in waters suitable to its nature. It as the former. is not averse to an occasional minnow, The body of the Calico Bass is elonga- but is not regarded as peculiarly aggres- ted, is much compressed and of a bright, sive, though provided by nature with an silvery olive-green color. The sides and armature that enables it to defend itself fins are mottled with a darker green or against all comers." " Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals Of fish, that with their fins and shining 'scales Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft Bank the mid sea: part single, or with mate, Graze, the seaweed their pasture, and through groves Of coral stray, or, sporting with quick glance, Show to the sun their waved coats, dropt with gold." — Milton, " Paradise Lost.' 84 THE GROWTH AND VARIATION OF FISH. How can you tell the age of a fish? stant temperature, and at one usually This question is often asked and just so much higher than the medium in which often is the answer unsatisfactory. he lives. A fish is a cold-blooded animal ; that is, As an example of the ability of fishes his temperature is nearly the same as to go for some time without eating, we that of the water in which he lives. His need only mention our Pacific salmon, circulation is sluggish and his appetite is There are five species of these large fishes a variable quantity. He has the capacity on the Pacific coast. In the early spring to take in large quantities of food at one (April) many of the largest species, the meal and properly assimilate it ; on the Chinook, start up the Columbia river for other hand he is able to fast for weeks at the purpose of spawning. They reach a time. He has his own notions about the headwaters of the Columbia in Idaho eating, and it is quite impossible to in- early in September. During this journey duce him to change them, and all this has they eat nothing. We know they do not considerable influence on his rate of eat, for of the thousands caught each growth. It is out of the question to ex- year for the canneries none are found pect him to grow when he is fasting ; on with food in their stomachs ; besides, this the other hand he must draw on the fat organ has become much shrunken. If he has stored up in his body to furnish they did eat on this journey there would him energy for his muscular movements not, I believe, be enough animal and plant and to carry on the ordinary functions of life in the Columbia to furnish each sal- nutrition. The fish here has an advant- mon with more than one meal. Now age over the warm-blooded animals, for many of them make the journey against a he does not need to generate heat to keep strong current for more than one thou- his body at a constant temperature. The sand miles, and reach an elevation of amount of food often eaten at one time is about eight thousand feet above the sea. quite remarkable. I remember once of When they leave the ocean they are in ex- taking nearly one pound of sunfish from cellent condition, by the time they have the stomach of a Large-mouthed Black reached their journey's end they are thin Bass. This does not indicate that a bass and haggard, their vitality is so reduced must eat such meals three times each day, that soon after spawning they die — liter- it only shows his capacity to make use of ally die of starvation. Their eggs hatch a large quantity of food when it is abund- during the winter. By the next winter ant and his stomach feels the need of it. the young salmon are from four to five A trout is a good feeder ; his stomach inches in length, and by the following fall and mouth are large, much in size like or early winter they go to the sea, having that of the black bass. From experi- reached an average length of about ten ments conducted at Neosho, Missouri, by inches. After leaving the fresh water, Mr. Page, he found that a young trout which only afforded them a scant subsist- did best on a .daily ration of solid food ence for nearly two years, the generous equal to about seventy-five per cent ocean gives them plenty of sea room and of its weight. On this amount the an abundance of food, which in a few trout would reach an average length years prepares them to repeat the long of six inches in one year. The av- journey of their parents. We are, in case erage amount of solid food con- of most fishes, ignorant of their life his- sumed daily by a man is from one and tories, as we are of the salmon's. We one-half to two per cent of his weight, or know the average rate of growth of the more than twice that consumed by our salmon for the first two years, but we active, growing young trout. As men- know nothing more of them until they tioned before, the trout is relieved from return to fresh water to spawn, generating heat to keep his body at a con- I mentioned that trout in the Neosho 85 Fish Hatchery grew, under favorable cir cumstances, to a length of six inches in one year. It must not be taken for grant ed, however, that trout six inches in length are one year old. In their native streams, in cooler regions, they will not often attain this length in two or more years. In general we do not find large fishes in small bodies of water ; neither do we find the fish in our small aquaria growing at an alarming rate. The fish disdains to outgrow his surroundings ; he may feel his importance, and consider himself in many ways superior to the other fishes in the pond with him, but he will not permit himself to grow to such a size as to make the question of securing a living a diffi cult or irksome one. Fishes spawn but once each year, and the time and length of the spawning sea son is not the same for all species. With some species the season is short, while with others it may extend through three or more months. In the latter case those produced the first part of the spawning season are at the end of six months much larger than those which appear at the close. It is therefore evident that the fishes of any single brood by the end of the year will vary greatly in size, often to such an extent that the broods of one sea son cannot be separated from those of the preceding season; especially is this true of our smaller species. Mr. Moenk- haus, in making a study of the two spe cies of darters, the Sand Darter or "John- ny," and the Log Perch, found by col lecting a large, miscellaneous lot of these fishes, from a given locality, that it was possible to separate them in groups ac cording to size of one, two or three years of age, which indicates a quite uniform rate of growth for these two species. Mr. Voris collected a miscellaneous lot of over five hundred specimens of the Blunt-nosed Minnow from Turkey Lake in Indiana, varying from one to three inches in length. These, when separated as far as possible, according to sizes, did not fall into distinct groups of different ages. In my own collecting and study of fresh water fishes I have always been im pressed with the difficulty of recognizing the age of fishes, except that the smallest taken was considered to be the product of the preceding spawning season. Here is an interesting question to which but little attention has been given. Any one will find much interest in studying the rate of growth of fishes under different circumstances. We know that the rate of growth is in no way uniform, as is the case with our warm-blooded animals. We also know that among fishes there is no uniform adult size, as there is in case of warm-blooded animals (birds and mam mals). In general, we cannot speak of a fish as being full-grown ; at the same time there seems to be a limit of size for each species in each body of water, beyond which only a few go. The Chinook sal mon we mentioned reach an average weight of twenty to thirty pounds, al though individuals are occasionally taken of forty, sixty or even one hundred pounds weight. These large fishes are by no means common, the other species of salmon never attain the size of the Chinook. There is an interesting family of fishes in our fresh waters known as Minnows ; these fishes are too small and too full of bones to become a favorite for the table. They are the most helpless of all our fresh water fishes, being soft, and, as they are slow swimmers, they become an easy prey to larger fishes, and form a large part of their food supply. They have been constantly driven into smaller streams and shallow water, until they have become exceedingly dwarfed. Their only use in the economy of fish life seems to be to assimilate small organisms, convert ing them into such shape that they can be taken by the larger fishes. Now the Minnows of all the United States east of the Rockies are small and, except in case of a few species, they are less than six inches in length. The predatory fishes, such as the Sunfishes and Perches, Pike and Pickerel, are their worst enemies. In the Rocky Mountains there are none of these fishes, and many minnows there grow to a length of two feet or more. The only enemy of importance they have is the trout, but the minnow finds a more con genial climate in the larger bodies of water, too warm for the trout. The strug gle for existence has been a severe one, 86 especially so in our streams where species of their parents and lie on one side, the of fish are the more numerous. It has eye on the underside disdains to look greatly limited the growth of most spe- downwards and so begins to move to- cies beyond an average size, and is in ward the other side. The bones of the many places responsible for the fact that head suit themselves to this change and often a species may become dwarfed in soon our flounder has both eyes on the certain bodies of water. In the Salmon same side of the head. The upper side is river in Idaho it was not an uncommon colored much to resemble sand, and the thing to catch trout of three or four under side becomes nearly white. The pounds weight. In the smaller tributaries flounder protects himself by covering his and in the smaller mountain lakes it was body, except the eyes, with sand. Flound- unusual to catch one weighing over one- ers live on sandy bottoms, some in shal- half pound, the average being less than low water, while others are found in deep- one-fourth pound. I have no doubt that est parts of the ocean. If flounders are many of those from the small lakes of placed in an aquarium and arranged so one-half pound were as old as the large the light can fall on the under side of their ones taken from the Salmon river. bodies, this, too, becomes dark, much like Fish eat and grow very irregularly, the other side. The average size of individuals, which we It is interesting to study the habits of would ordinarily call adults, for some fishes in a small aquarium, and to espe- species, is different in different bodies of daily notice their ability to change color, water. Their growth is influenced large- and how rapidly they do it. So .many ly by the size and depth of the body of persons seem to be saturated with the water in which they live, also by its tern- idea that an aquarium must have in it one perature and the amount of suitable food or more gold fish. This seems to me to it contains. The value or extent of each be a mistake when our streams contain so of these influences is imperfectly under- many species suitable for the aquarium stood. which are far more handsome than the The forms of fishes are very numerous, gold fish, and which, if you give them Some are extremely long and slender, as half a chance, will teach you something many of the species of Eels, Pipe-fishes of interest. Mr. Ford, of Berwyn, Illi- and the like, while others are extremely nois, has a small aquarium, in his house, short, like Sunfish of the ocean. Others, in which he keeps from fifteen to twenty- like the Trunk Fishes, are nearly equal in six species of native fishes. Among these all dimensions. The average form and are several species of Darters, the most the one which best suits our idea of a fish, beautifully colored and the most interest- is the Black Bass, or other fishes of simi- ing of all our fresh-water forms. Then lar pattern. To know the advantages of there are Minnows, Suckers, Catfishes, these forms one must study the fishes in Sunfishes, the Pike, Mud Minnow, Top their native element. The peculiar forms Minnow, and so on. To one who would which many species take are the most no- know fishes, any one of these species is ticeable in those found in the tropics. The more desirable than gold fish. The study struggle for existence there is the most of fishes in an aquarium, such as the one severe, and it seems as if each species had possessed by Mr. Ford, is extremely in- labored to take on some peculiar form teresting. They will teach you much which would assist most in its preserva- about their habits, besides giving you tion. In this respect color also plays an many lessons showing their ability to important factor. It is in the tropics and change color and adapt themselves to among the many species of corals that we their surroundings, find the most highly-colored fishes. The Blind Fishes, which inhabit caves Many fishes have the power to change in this country, are very interesting. They their color, and this they can do in a very have lost their color, if they ever had any, short time. The flounders are a peculiar being white. In many the eyes have be- family, the young when born are symmet- come so degenerated as to be entirely of rical. Early in life they take on the habit no service when the fish is in the light. 89 The head is furnished with tactile organs, for their existence in total darkness. The which enables them to feel their way in Blind Fishes were not always blind, but the dark. In fact, they are well adapted have become so because of their own for the life they lead. Dr. Eigenmann preferences. tells us that Blind Fishes were not acci- The readers are, if they will only study dentally swept into caves or driven there fishes, sure to find them extremely inter- by their enemies, "but entered them de- esting. There are a wonderful variety of liberately and avoided coming out into fishes, each well adapted for the life it the light." In other words, they pre- leads. You will find them in the brooks, ferred "darkness rather than light." creeks, rivers and lakes or ocean, wher- Having simplified eyes and highly devel- ever you happen to be, and you are sure oped sense organs, they were able to live to be highly repaid for all the study or at- in the dark. The many ages they have tention you may give them, lived in the caves has better fitted them Seth E. Meek. 90 THE ORIGIN OF THE FISH. A BIRD-FISH STORY. Once upon a time, and that was in "Are you the most graceful and the the long- ago, there lived a Koko-bird highest flyer among birds?" along the forest shores of the Boozoo "I am," replied the braggart for the river. I am not quite certain in what third time. country this river is but I believe it is The king of birds then flapped his somewhere in Gazazuland. It does not right wing arid there came forth the gor- matter much where it is or was, but of geous bird of paradise, with the beautiful one thing I am absolutely certain, and and wonderful tail feathers and crown, that is that the river did exist, else how at the sight of which the members of the could the bird have lived along its bird council individually and collectively shores ? Now this bird was quite beauti- flapped their wings in admiration. The ful, could sing quite well, and could fly eagle once more turned to the Koko-bird quite gracefully ; accomplishments which and in a terrible voice demanded : all of the other birds of the community "Are you still the handsomest among willingly admitted, but the Koko-bird birds? Heed well your answer." was very boastful. In a loud, arrogant The Koko-bird gave one sidelong voice he would proclaim himself the squint at the beautiful bird and said : handsomest, the most musical and the "I am," in a very indifferent tone of most graceful of all the feathered tribe, voice ; whereat the assembled birds were At first his neighbors tried to ignore astonished. these boasts, hoping that the Koko-bird The king of birds then flapped his left would in time learn better manners, but wing and there came forth a nightingale he did not ; on the contrary, he became which began to sing so sweetly that some more boastful every day, in fact every of the listeners fell from their perches minute, so that his presence became al- out of sheer ecstasy and they would have most unbearable, causing great mental been hurt by the fall had they not caught irritation and a feeling of nausea in those themselves in the air by means of their who were obliged to listen to him. A wings. Even the king of birds was bird committee was therefore appointed greatly moved, for he was seen to brush to obtain an audience with the Golden a tear from his right eye before he turned Eagle, who was then the ruler of all the to the Koko-bird and spoke in a thunder- birds, and petition his majesty to con- ous voice: vene the bird council in order that suit- "You have heard this marvelous able punishment might be meted out to singer. Are you still the best vocalist the boastful Koko. The very next day among birds? Heed well your answer." the meeting was called by special and The Koko-bird merely yawned and very swift bird messengers. The Koko- said, "I am," and again the birds were bird was brought a prisoner before the greatly astonished. king of the birds, the bird council and a The king of birds now nodded his vast concourse of birds from far and near, head and there arose out of the multitude who had come to witness the trial. In of birds a blue .crane, whose home was a measured and stentorian voice the king near the Gingago river in farthest India. asked the following questions of the cul- Its wings moved in even, silent, graceful prit: undulations. It gradually rose higher "Are you the handsomest of birds?" and higher. All of the birds, with the "I am," replied the Koko-bird. exception of the Koko-bird, watched it "Are you the best singer among spellbound until it appeared a mere speck birds?" in the' distance. The Koko-bird gave "I am," again replied the boastful bird, one glance at the high flyer, then curled 91 one foot up in his feathers, shook his bird disappeared. This so surprised head, closed his eyes and dozed peace- Koko that he actually awoke from his fully. slumber. He tried to say, "Well ! well ! For the third time the king of birds . what has happened," but could not utter turned toward the Koko-bird and spoke a sound. The king of birds now flew in a voice even more terrible than on away, which was the signal for the ad- previous occasions. journment of the assembly, for, you see, "Are you the most graceful and high- their work was done. All of the birds est flyer among birds ? Answer me quick began to depart for their respective and heed well your answer." home trees, but before doing so each one The Koko-bird merely opened one eye said something sarcastic or insulting, and said sleepily, "I am," whereat the hoping to humiliate the forsaken culprit, vast concourse of birds were astonished This merely annoyed Koko a little. He for the third time. Some opened their tried to retaliate by boldly declaring that bills in amazement at such unheard-of he was the handsomest, the most musical audacity; others hooted and screamed and the most graceful of all birds, as he clamorously, demanding that the wicked had often done before, but he could not, Koko be severely dealt with. for had not the council decreed that he The king of birds now flapped both be "struck dumb?" He tried to catch wings to demand silence and attention, the little sparrow, who, by his derisive Those who had their bills open closed twitterings, annoyed him even more than them with a snap and the clamorous ones the vulture, by his coarse insults, but his became perfectly quiet. The king then wings would not carry him. He merely turned toward the council and spoke in succeeded in falling into the Boozoo an even, stentorian voice, as follows: river. "Gentlemen birds of the council. The "Now I shall be drowned," he thought, prisoner, otherwise known as the Koko- for you remember he could not talk, bird, stands before you, self-accused and But behold ! he did not drown ; by means self-condemned. I commit him to your of his featherless wings and tail he could judgment. Let his punishment be as swim beautifully on top of the water as severe as the bird law will permit." well as in it. His body feathers being The bird council then adjourned to gone, they did not become water-soaked the large council tree where they re- and give him the snuffles, a severe cold, mained in closed session for one hour, or perhaps pneumonia. Koko was as- They then returned to the bird assembly tonished to find that water, which he had and the leader thus addressed the king formerly feared, was not bad at all. He of birds : could drink whenever he wanted to with- "Your majesty, the grand council of out having to stand at the edge of the this bird assemblage, convened by you, river bank, as he formerly did and get his find the prisoner guilty and fix upon the feet all mud. In time his wings and following punishment : feet became fins and the feather stumps "i. Because of his boast that he is the became scales; in other words, the erst- handsomest of birds his tail and wing while boastful Koko became a fish, feathers shall be pulled out and all other The Koko-fish (for so must the Koko- feathers shall be shorn close. bird be called now), would have lived in "2. Because of his boast that he is the the Boozoo river peacefully had not an best singer among birds he shall be owl noticed him one day. struck dumb. "O, ho! What is this?" said the wise "3. Because of his boast that he is the one, blinking both eyes. "Such a most graceful and highest flyer among creature was never seen before. I must birds, he shall forever be prevented from investigate closer." So saying he flew moving in the atmosphere in which we to a lower limb and looked hard at Koko. move." Koko, in turn, stared at the owl out of No sooner had the speaker finished one eye ; he did not wink or blink but when the handsome feathers of the Koko- simply stared and said nothing. 92 "By my wisdom," said the owl, "if this isn't Koko. I know him by his eye. Well ! well ! what may not happen next ?" That night the wise owl repaired in all haste to Urtzook in Tartary, where the bird council was again in session, and reported his wonderful find, whereat the king of birds and all present were greatly astonished for the fourth time. They expressed a fear that Koko would some day leave his watery element and return to them. The king turned to the wise one and said : "How know you that the creature which you beheld in the limpid waters of the Boozoo is the erstwhile Koko ? and let me remind you, heed well your answer." "Uh ! how do I know, indeed," replied the owl, "by his eye, by his cold stare." "Our enemy, the Boa, also hath an eye with a cold stare ; is he therefore also a metamorphosed Koko? Again heed well your answer," continued the king in a somewhat sarcastic tone. The owl winked and blinked, adjusted his spectacles and made answer. "The undeniable evidence that the creature referred to is the metamor phosed Koko-bird is as follows : All the wise birds of your kingdom, including your humble servant, have searched far and near and have found no Koko-bird. We, ahem, I, have found this creature with the cold stare ; therefore, it follows that this staring, scaly, wingless and featherless creature must be the meta morphosed Koko-bird, for how could it be otherwise?" All doubt vanished at such display of wisdom and the king of birds at once dispatched the Flipflap bird to the banks of the Boozoo river, instructing him to keep a sharp lookout on the now scaly Koko and to drive him back into the water should he attempt to leave it. Even to. this day the guardian of fish may be seen perched upon a stump, closely watching the rippling waters. As soon as one of the finny tribe approaches near the surface he makes a dash for it, com pelling it to return with all speed. For his faithful services the Flipflap bird has been dubbed Kingfisher, which is a much nicer name. Albert Schneider. : L, 352 BANANA. Natural-size. COPYRIGHT 1900. BV A. W MUMFORO, CHICA 95 THE BANANA. Tall and stately, capped by a grace fully arched group of leaves and a nod ding spike of numerous flowers, the banana is noted alike for its beauty, its nourishing fruit and its many qualities of economic value. Some one has said, "The banana is the queen among orna mental herbs, and the household god of the laborer's cottage." To him who dwells in the tropics the banana is as wheat and rice are to the inhabitants of more temperate regions. Nearly all the authorities on the dis tribution of plants believe the banana to be a native of Asia and that it was not found in the New World previous to its introduction by man. An argument which strongly supports this theory is the lack of native names for the plant in Mexico and in South America. It was mentioned by the early Latin and Greek writers, but seems to have been unknown to the ancient Egyptians. Botanical authorities quite generally agree that the numerous varieties of our common banana are produced from Musa sapientum. The generic name, Musa, is by some claimed to have its ori gin in the Arabic word Moux, their name for this group of plants. Others claim that the name was .given in honor of Antonius Musa, a physician who cured Augustus Caesar of a disease that had been considered incurable. The specific name has its origin in the myth that the groves of the banana plant were used by the sages or wise men (sapientes) of India for their councils and for rest, they also partaking of the fruit. Another species of the genus Musa is called paradisiaca from the mythical story that it was the forbidden fruit of Paradise. The common name of this species is the plantain and by many it is considered the parent of the numerous varieties in cultivation in Asia and the adjacent islands and also in the New World. Many eminent authorities be lieve that both the banana and the plan tain, with the numerous varieties of each, are the same species. The banana plant is herbaceous and dies down to the ground after fruiting. The true stem is underground and per ennial, sending up new shoots each sea son, which grow rapidly and in a few months bear ripened fruit. The stalk that bears the flowers grows to a height of from fifteen to twenty feet and is surrounded by the sheathing bases of the leaves. The flower cluster or spike is terminal and from two to four feet in length and nodding. The oblong leaves are dark green in color, from five to ten feet in length, and from one to two feet in width. The beautifully arch ing leaves and the pendulous cluster of flowers or fruits forms an attractive foliage and makes the plant a noted or nament for the garden. The many varieties of both the banana and plantain, which vary in taste, color, form and size, are very widely distributed throughout the world, being usually found in a zone bounded by 38 degrees North and 38 degrees South latitude. It is said that a single plant will produce, on the average, in one year three bunches of fruit weighing fifty or more pounds. The amount of labor required in its culti vation is very small, especially in the older plantations. The number of bananas on a single stalk of the ordinary variety varies from about one hundred to two hundred, with an average of about one hundred and thirty. When a plantation is fully de veloped growth is so rapid and so con stant that ripe bunches of fruit may be gathered each week. For the best results a good, fertile soil is required. It is interesting to note that but little moisture is needed, for the plants attract water, either from the air or the waters deep under ground, and the surface of the ground is always moist even in a time of unusual drought. The stalk that bears the heavy bunch of fruit, occasionally weighing as much as eighty pounds, may be easily cut down by a single stroke of a scythe or a machete. 96 Under cultivation the fruit seldom pro- pine Islands. The fiber obtained from duces perfect seeds, b.ut if developed in this plant is the Manila or Cebu hemp a state of nature it is said that they will of commerce, which is used, in this coun- mature and that many varieties are pro- try, mainly for the manufacture of bind- duced. ing- twines, cordage and mats. In France The banana is frequently used in coffee the finer fibers are quite extensively used plantations to make the necessary shade for the manufacture of fine veils, crapes, for the young coffee plants and at the hats, delicate underclothing and many same time it yields an income while the other articles of apparel. The natives of planter is waiting for the production of the Philippines call this fiber Abaca. It the coffee berry. is called Manila because most of the fiber Natives of the tropics have found the is exported from the seaport of that leaves a cool and useful thatching for the name. We are told that "Manila hemp roofs of their huts. began to be used extensively in this The unripe fruits contain a large per- country, in Salem and Boston, in 1824 centage of starch and the pulp, when to 1827." dried and reduced to a powder, makes Probably the most peculiar of all the an excellent and nutritious flour or meal, species is the Chinese banana (Musa Cav- The ripe fruit contains about twenty endishii), which is extensively cultivated per cent of starch, the remainder having in China and throughout the South Sea been changed into sugar during the Islands. It is a dwarf, the plant seldom process of ripening. Even intoxicating attaining a height of more than six feet, drinks are made by the Africans from the It is robust and yields a great harvest juice, known as "banana beer" and "ba- of fruit, a single bunch bearing from two nana wine." It is not the fruit alone hundred to three hundred bananas, the that is used as food, as also the pith, the flavor of which is excellent, top of the flower cluster and the young The opposite of the Chinese form is and tender shoots delight the taste and the Abyssinian (Musa ensete), which may nourish the body. be called the giant plantain. It attains The economic value of the fibers of a height of thirty or more feet and the some of the species was known to the leaves are sometimes twenty feet long Chinese and Japanese from remote times, by three feet wide. The fruit is pulpless The fiber obtained from the leaves of and dry, but the inner part of the stalk both the banana and the plantain are val- and the young stalks are boiled and used uable in the manufacture of paper and for food. It is without doubt the most fabrics of various kinds. handsome species of this wonderfully use- One of the most interesting and valua- ful and beautiful group of plants, ble of the species of Musa is the Wild William Kerr Higley. Plantain (Musa textilis) of the Philip- BIRDS AND NATURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. VIII. OCTOBER, 1900. No. 3 O suns and skies and clouds of June, And flowers of June together, Ye cannot rival for one hour October's bright blue weather. When loud the bumble-bee makes haste, Belated, thriftless vagrant, And golden-rod is dying fast, And lanes with grapes are fragrant ; When gentians roll their fringes tight To save them for the morning, And chestnuts fall from satin burrs Without a sound of warning ; When on the ground red apples lie In piles like jewels shining, And redder still on old stone walls Are leaves of woodbine twining ; When all the lovely wayside things Their white-winged seeds are sowing, And in the fields, still green and fair, Late aftermaths are growing; When springs run low, and on the brooks, In idle golden freighting, Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush Of woods, for winter waiting; When comrades seek sweet country haunts, By twos and twos together, And count like misers hour by hour, October's bright blue weather. O suns and skies and flowers of June, Count all your boasts together, Love loveth best of all the year October's bright blue weather. Helen Hunt Jackson, Copyright, 1900, by A. W. Mum ford. 98 SONNET— OCTOBER. Ay, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath! When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf, And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief, And the year smiles as it draws near its death. Wind of the sunny south! oh, still delay In the gay woods and in the golden air, Like to a good old age released from care, Journeying, in long serenity, away. In such a bright, late quiet, would that I Might wear out life like thee, 'mid bowers and brooks, And dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks, And music of kind voices ever nigh; AndVhen my last sand twinkled in the glass, Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass. -William Cullen Bryant. SONNET— AUTUMN, Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain, With banners, by'great gales incessant fanned, Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand, And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain! Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne, Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land, Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain. Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended So long beneath the heaven's o'erhanging eaves; Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended; Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves; And following thee, in thy ovation splendid, Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves! -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. WILD COLUMBINE. Canadensis.} FROM "NATURE'S G»RDE1 COPYRIGHT 1900. BY 101 THE COLUMBINE. Botanically the Columbine is called Aquilegia, from the Latin word Aquila, meaning an eagle, in reference to a fan cied likeness of the spurs of its flowers to the talons of an eagle. It is one of the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceae). This pretty and herbaceous perennial is distributed over most of the north tem perate zone and, if not altogether a child of the mountains, it may be sought in rocky or stony localities. One is sur prised to find the graceful Columbine, de fying the storms, with its roots carefully fastened in the deep crevasses of the rocks of rugged mountains and protruding its nodding flowers above some steep ledge where human foot has never trod. To many a weary wayfarer this little hermit flower has brought joy and pleasure. Though attractive to the lover of flowers, it is not met with in f Alore nearly as frequently as many other species of plants that are far less attractive. The genus Aquilegia includes about twenty species and an endless number of varieties, produced by the skill and intel ligence of the gardener. The United States can claim the prettiest of all the species of this widely distributed group. One species is the Wild Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) of our illustra tion. It is common everywhere. Here it is found covering rocky hills, softening the harsh gray of the rocks with its deli cate foliage ; there it enlivens the wood land borders with its nodding and pretty scarlet flowers, which are lined with bright yellow. In the woods it is fre quently encountered, though not as ro bust in its growth, as if in this sheltered position less strength is required. An other species, and the most elegant of all the Columbines, is the blue Rocky Moun tain form (Aquilegia coerulea). It is at home in the Grand Canon of the Colo rado, where its wild grace and untram- meled native beauty is unsurpassed. Among the other species that should be mentioned are the Yellow Columbine (Aquilegia crysantha) of the Western States, and its sister, also yellow, the Pubescent Columbine (Aquilegia pubes- cens) of the Death Valley of California. The Rocky Mountain and Yellow Colum bines furnish the finest garden forms and are the parents of several beautiful va rieties. Europe has its common form (Aquilegia vulgaris) and also Alpine spe cies, which, though outranked by our na tive species, are the originals of many of the single and double varieties of the garden. Though it has been stated that the Col umbines prefer the rocky hillsides, it must not be supposed that they will not tolerate a home in the border of a gar den flower bed. Like many other plants of a similar nature, they thrive under cul tivation, where a sunny and sheltered po sition is more suitable. One of the most beautiful of the garden varieties, or hy brids, is the double-flowered Skinner's Columbine. The Columbines have been called "the flowers for the masses." Once started in the garden they will propagate for years and, although perennial, they increase rapidly by self-sown seed. The young plants will acquire sufficient size and strength, before the close of the growing season, to endure the trying winter weather. James Jensen. 102 THE RUFFED GROUSE. Who knows the joy a bird knows, seemed to rise into the air, and, flying When it goes fleetly? swiftly as the wind, we at last alighted Who knows the joy a flower knows, in a nest of hills, a lovely spot. The When it blows sweetly? moonlight was shining and strange Bird wing and flower stem, winged figures were flitting about. One Break them who would? of them challenged us, but when the Bird wing and flower stem, password, " Jubilee," was given he let Make them who could? us pass. The air was filled with the whirring of wings and the voices of the This world is very beautiful and the birdg Th seemed to be b birds and flowers help to make it so getting ready for some great event. When we think what the world would Suddenly a drumming noise was heard be without the fluttering of wings and an(j al, the birds were stilL Looki the carols of birds without the color at the Q e j saw a , and and perfume of the ilies and roses standing proudly there was a fine ruffed and the myriads of wild flowers that grouse> Soon bespoke: " Brothers of lift their pretty heads from banks of the se fami, , have j wajted dainty moss or nod to their reflection fof thig d It {s the proudest in the clear waters of the brook, we moment of m life> To the broad begin to feel what beauty they possess prairies and loit hills of America I and what a grace they give to our lives. bid you we]comet O, my brothers! I Birds have been named often from am giacj so many of the ladies are their appearance. The name grouse present, too," and then Mr. Grouse means gray hen, and this family of spread his ruff so wide that we could game birds as a whole is of this color, hardly see his head, and made several I must now tell you of a wonderful low bows to the grouse hens who thing that happened just a while ago. fluttered their sober gray, wings. " In You all know about the Queen's Dia- the name of all the grouse in America mond Jubilee over in England? The I welcome you. And now, brother and papers every day gave interesting ac- sister grouse, I have the honor of in- counts of the Queen and her people, troducing the Cock-o'-the-woods, who how they loved her, how they ap- will take the log." plauded her whenever she showed her The drumming and whirring of wings good, kind face to them. and cries of "Cock, cock!" that fol- I had said to my brother that I lowed this speech of the ruffed grouse wished I could see such a wonderful almost deafened us. jubilee, when he replied: "Can you At last Mr. Capercailzie, called by keep a secret?"- " Of course you know his intimate friends Cock-o'-the-woods, that I can!" "Listen, then,"^ie whis- advanced to the log. Ah, but he was pered softly, "if you wish to see some a handsome bird! Very large, he things as strange as the Queen's Jubilee weight d at least sixteen pounds, with be ready on your wheel at 11 tonight, brilliant plumage of black, brown and Say not a word to any one." But white, and dark green feathers in his where are we going?" I asked. "That chest. The scarlet patches of skin I shall not tell you; if you care to come, over his eyes were very bright in the all right; if not, I shall go alone." Of moonlight. He looked slowly around, course I was ready. Our wheels bowing to the applause, and said: 103 " I thank you for your welcome. In the name of all who have come from distant lands, from Asia and Europe, I thank you. We have come to hold a Grouse Jubilee. Surely we may well hold such a meeting and review our history and accomplishments, if the people who are really only new comers into our lands can hold a jubilee over a Queen whose family have been in Eng land but a few hundred years. What are a hundred years in the history of our family who lived in England and northern Europe thousands of years ago? "I will call upon the willow grouse to tell us the history of our famous family as he knows it." Slowly Mr. Willow Grouse advanced to the log, chewing the bud of a birch tree as he came. He bowed and said: " Mr. Chairman, you must excuse my slow speech, but you know I am the eldest brother of the grouse family and am not so strong as I used to be. Our history is cer tainly wonderful! Thousands of years ago we came southward with the ice and as the ice melted we flew north again. Today we live in many lands. I have traveled from Scandinavia with my wife and children, flying over Siberia and Alaska. My wife and I dress alike and our gray summer suits are good for traveling. In winter we prefer white coats, for then the hunter can not tell us from the snow." Just then a bird near us muttered: " That is nothing remarkable. I have three suits every year." " Hush," said a bird near him, "you must not interrupt." But the willow grouse had finished, and after the young grouse had given him the front seat, for they are very kind to the old, the grouse who had boasted of his coats said: " Mr. Presi dent, I come from the high mountain peaks. Men call me ptarmigan or winged, because I have such thick plumage. As this is summer my legs and feet are quite bare and my coat is the color of the twigs, but you should see my winter suit! It is thick and soft and white as snow, and thick downy stockings cover my feet. They help me to make my way over the snow. In the autumn my coat changes to gray — the color of the rocks on the mountain side. It is hard work some times to find enough to eat so high up in the mountains, but better a dish of leaves in freedom than to live on plenty in constant fear of the gun of the hunter." "Cock, cock!" said the grouse, and it sounded so much like our " hear, hear! " that I almost laughed aloud. "The next number on our program will be a waltz," said the chairman. "A waltz," I thought; "grouse waltzing; whoever heard of such a thing?" Just then a handsome young capercailzie came to the log. It is not strange they are called the ucocks-of-the-wood," for they are certainly the handsomest of the grouse family. He puffed out his feathers, strutted back and forth on the log and began his waltz. It was a comical sight! While he was dancing he kept up the oddest singing — all on one note. Soon a black cock joined him and then they tried to show off. Some hens favored the capercailzie and some gathered around the black cock. At last all took sides, and it would have ended in a fight, only the dignified chairman stopped the dance and told them to remember that this was not a fight, but a jubilee. The cocks lowered their wings, but I believe they will fight it out sometime. " Let us hear from the red grouse; let us hear from the red grouse!" cried several birds at once. A small bird with rich red-brown plumage came to the log. "This is the first time I have ever been away from Great Britain," said the red grouse, "and I must be back for the I2th of August. That is an ex citing day! All summer my wife and I keep with the children and live in peace, but on that day the hunters come. It is great fun to. wait till they come very near and then whiz past so quickly that the shot does not reach you Great fun, indeed!" muttered the ptarmigan; "fun for the hunter to slay his thousands every year." "Yes, that is true," replied the red grouse, "but we live in safety all the year ex cept the hunting season. The keepers 104 i and the hunters keep the eagle and the because he can raise the numerous fox and all our foes away, and our fam- wide soft feathers on each side of the ily of red grouse in Scotland is larger neck and make a ruff like those the now than before the hunters came. It ladies used to wear when Elizabeth was is because we are on the moors that all Queen of England. the wealthy people come to Scotland "His favorite home is in the heavy in August. Thousands of strangers fill bird forests or in the thickets of the the land, and they all come for us, the scrub oak and he is seldom found in little red grouse who live only on Brit- places open e'nough for good hunting ish moors. We are proud of the fact with the dogs. that we are the only bird that belongs "When disturbed, the birds fly like to Great Britain alone. We take care an arrow for the thickest shelter, of our young together, my mate and I, They dart behind the tree trunks or and in October we join other families light upon its branches, and are so still and fly to the uplands." and so exactly the color of the tree Just here the hens of the capercailzie that they look like part of it. and the black cock began a noisy clat- " The ruffed grouse are found in all ter. " I wish our husbands were like parts of the United States. They go the red grouse," said one. "I think it in pairs or in small companies. The is a perfect shame," said another; " my drumming noise made by the male mate never stays near the nest. When when he is calling his mate is a very I must leave the eggs to hunt for food pleasant sound in the woods and may he is never there to keep them warm." sometimes be heard a mile away. " I wish I were a willow grouse or a red " He selects a hollow log, struts back grouse," said another demure little hen. and forth upon it, and at last strikes The black cocks and the capercailzie his sides with his wings so rapidly that looked rather ashamed; even the chair- the noise resembles distant thunder, man hung his head, but he quickly When his mate comes he raises his ruff called the hens to order, saying: "Now until his head is almost hidden. He we will hear from our American friend, spreads his tail like a fan, and tries to the ruffed grouse." make himself lovely in her eyes. "Wake up! Wake up! You have been " They build their nest on the ground, sleeping in the moonlight!1' "Where It is made of grass, twigs and leaves, is the ruffed grouse?" I sleepily ask, The mother-bird is very clever in pro- and then my brother laughs and asks tecting her young brood. If she hears what I have been dreaming. So it was someone near, she gives a cluck and all a dream, and the moonlight, the they disappear, while she moves slowly pines, the grouse and the jubilee have along trying to lead the intruder away been but parts of a dream! "You awoke from the nest. When she can get be- me and now you must tell me about hind a tree she flies swiftly away, com- the ruffed grouse," I say to my brother, ing back to the nest when she thinks " Well, you must know that there are all is safe. many varieties of grouse in our broad " Go to sleep again and perhaps you land, but the ruffed grouse is the will have another dream," laughed my gamiest and handsomest in plumage of brother. "That is all interesting, but all the grouse family. It is swifter on I am sorry I did not hear the ruffed the wing and harder to shoot. grouse tell his own story." "This bird is called ruffed grouse Florence Holbrook. 107 THE BLUE GENTIANS. During the reign of King Gentius, from many of the larger forms, whose Illyria was devastated by the plague. So corollas quickly fade, great was the mortality among his sub- One of the most attractive and familiar jects, the pious king appointed a season of the Gentians is the fringed or blue of fasting, and prayed that if he shot an Gentian (Gentiana crinita). It is gener- arrow into the air the Almighty would ally found in low grounds, along water direct its descent, guiding it to some herb courses or ditches, and while quite gen- possessed of sufficient virtue to arrest the erally distributed, it is sparing of its fa- course of the disease. The king shot the vors, as the long peduncles that terminate arrow and in falling it cleft the root of a the stems or simple branches, support plant which, when tested, was found to but a single flower. The plant grows to possess the most astonishing curative a height of from one to two feet, and the powers, and did much to lessen the rav- leaves, placed opposite to each other, have ages of the plague. The plant from that rounded or heart-shaped bases attached time on became known as the Gentian, in directly' to the stems, entire edges and honor of the good king, whose supplica- tapering points. The sky-blue flower is tions brought about the divine manifesta- bell-shaped, nearly two inches long and tion of its medicinal properties. with the lobes strongly fringed. This is The old herbalists called the Gentian partially enclosed by a calyx, which is Baldmoyne, or Feldwode. The first of nearly as long as the corolla, these names is supposed to have been de- A much more common form, found rived from the Latin valde bona, mean- growing in fields and woodlands, is the ing very good. It was regarded as a closed Gentian (Gentiana Andrewsii). The specific for poisons and pestilence, and an fanciful name, Cloistered Heart, has been excellent remedy for wounds caused by given to the plant because of the story mad dogs. The term Feldwode carries that once a fairy queen sought to elude the associations of the plant back to the pursuit by secreting herself in the flower time of Greek myths and fables. Tellus, of a fringed Gentian. In order that she the goddess of the earth, possessed the might be more effectually shielded, the power to produce plants potent for en- plant closed the lobes of its corolla and in chantments. Hence, when Medea be- gratitude the queen decorated the interior sought Tellus to evolve a plant which of the flower with brilliant stripes. It is would give the element of renewed youth in order to preserve this fairy painting to the mixture in her caldron, the god- that the flowers have remained closed ever dess produced the Gentian or Feldewode, since. which restored to the aged Aeson the The closed Gentian has leaves with freshness and vigor of youth. rough edges and a narrow base. The The genus Gentiana includes nearly two flowers are blue or occasionally white, hundred species distributed from boreal closed at the mouth, forming an inflated, to tropical regions, although the majority club-shaped corolla, with stripes on the are found in the north temperate zone. A inside. They are arranged in clusters on large number of species are found in the ends of the peduncles or flower stems Europe, more than sixty having been re- and are from an inch to an inch and a half ported from Russia, and there are nearly in length. Both the fringed and the blue one hundred in North America. Several Gentian bloom during the autumn very beautiful forms come from the Swiss months and are among the most attractive Alps, which rarely attain a height of more forms that mark the close of the floral than three or four inches. The deep blue season. flowers of these diminutive specimens re- The medicinal properties of the Gen- tain their color for years after being tian are obtained from the root, which, pressed for the herbarium, thus differing after being powdered, yields its remedial 108 qualities to water and alcohol. As a tonic, it has been used from remote times and it is said that the Swiss macerate the plants in cold water, the sugar they contain causing fermentation which results in a spirituous liquor, bitter and unpleasant, but much used by them. The root is found as an ingredient in many of the ancient receipts transmitted from the Greeks and Romans, and is still employed in a great variety of complaints. Charles S. Raddin. TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN. Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, And colored with the heaven's own blue, That openest when the quiet light Succeeds the keen and frosty night. Thou comest not when violets lean O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen, Or columbines in purple dressed, Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest. Thou waitest late, and com'st alone, When woods are bare and birds are flown, And frosts and shortening days portend The aged year is near his end. Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye Look through its fringes to the sky, Blue — blue — as if that sky let fall A flower from its cerulean wall. I would that thus when I shall see The himr of death draw near to me, Hope, blossoming within my heart, May look to heaven as I depart. William Cullen Bryant. 109 THE BABY LIONS. Girard, a great lion-hunter, once took home with him two baby lions which were a month old. The lioness was about as large as a cat and the lion a third larger. The little lioness was very timid. If anyone tried to caress her she would repay him with a few blows from her little paws. Her brother, whom they named Hubert, was quite different. He would sit quiet, looking with some astonishment at all that passed, but was not cross. He was idolized by the children, who were ever' fond of petting him. The lioness could not be induced to take sufficient food, and she finally died. Hubert got along nicely and was as healthy and strong as it he had been reared in the forest. He was taken to a camp of soldiers, where he became the idol of the regi ment. He was always present at parade and would play with the men during leisure hours. As he grew older his capers became somewhat serious. He showed a liking for sheep and donkeys, which made it necessary for him to be chained. Finally, after he had killed a horse and dangerously wounded two men he had to be caged. Girard still continued to pet him, however. Every night he would open the cage, and Hubert would spring out joyously, playing with him at hide-and- seek, embracing him with an ardor that was more affectionate than agreeable. One night as they played Hubert came very near strangling his master, and probably would have succeeded if the soldiers had not beaten him away. That was the last time they played hide and-seek together. Hubert was afterward sent to Paris. Some time later Girard went to see him. Hubert was l>ing half asleep, not taking much notice of the visitors. Suddenly he raised his head, his eyes enlarged and there was a nervous twitching of the muscles of his face. He swung his tail from side to side, showing that the sight of the well- known uniform had aroused him. He knew the uniform, but had not yet rec ognized his old master. Girard ap proached and thrust his hand into the cage. It was a touching scene which followed. The lion, without taking his eyes from his master, put his nose to the outstretched hand and began to breathe deeply. With every breath his eyes became more affectionate, and when Girard said to him: "Well, Hubert, my old soldier!" he made a tenible bound against the bars of his cage, which trembled beneath his weight. He stood rp, pressed against the bars and tried to break through them. He licktd his old master's hand with joy. If anyone else came near the cage he became very angry. At last Girard went away, and when he was out of sight Hubert made the cage tremble with his cries and bounds. 110 SUNFLOWERS AND DAISIES. The dayesye or elles the eye of day, The emperice and flour of floures alle. — Chaucer, Good Women, L 184. The sunflowers are mostly large, erect, perennial herbs, with the flowers char acteristic of the order Compositae. They are natives of tropical America, but have become widely distributed in cultivation, appreciated on account of their large yel low flowers. They not only thrive very luxuriantly under cultivation, but spread very quickly spontaneously. Every one is familiar with the sunflower as it ap pears in cultivation, hence no special de scription shall be given of it. It is kin to the iron weed, the dandelion, the golden rods, the asters and the daisies. It would be impracticable to describe or mention all the species and varieties of sunflowers and their numerous relatives. We shall refer very briefly to a few of the more common kinds. Helianthus an- nuus is a commonly cultivated species. The seeds of this plant furnish a very use ful oil ; the flowers yield honey and a use ful dye ; the stalks a textile fabric and the leaves fodder. The seeds of this and other species are also used as food, and as a surrogate for coffee. The carefully dried and prepared leaves have been used as a substitute for tobacco in cigars. Poultry eat the seeds very greedily and thrive well upon them, due to the oil pres ent. It is also maintained that a large number of sunflowers about a dwelling place will serve as a protection against malaria. An infusidn of the stem is said to be anti-malarial. H. tuberosus, known as the Jerusalem artichoke, has large tuberous roots which are sometimes eaten when cooked or pickled. Several species are said to have decided medicinal properties. H. odora is said to be carminative, diuretic, stimu lant and antemetic. H. rigida is tonic and astringent. H. virgaurea of both continents is also astringent and tonic. In the eclectic school of medicine the in fusion of seeds is used as a mild expector ant, and the expressed oil as a diuretic. The diuretic properties are said to be due to nitre, which occurs most plentifully in the central pith of the stalks. The medicinal virtues of the sunflowers are very limited and uncertain. Their principal use is that of a showy garden plant. That they check or prevent ma laria is quite probable, because of their draining effect upon the soil rather than any medicinal property residing in the plants themselves. The daisies, of which the'oxeye daisy is a well-known example, are garden and field favorites. As already indicated, they are kin to the sunflowers. The word daisy is a contraction of the old English words "dayes eye," that is, the eye of day, meaning the sun, as indicated in the verse from Chaucer. There are a great many flowers known as daisies and again a given one has a number of popular names. For instance, Rudbeckia hirta (see illustration) is variously designated yellow daisy, black-eyed Susan, nigger head, golden Jerusalem and oxeye daisy. The two plates illustrate the tall or giant sunflower (H. giganteus) and the daisy just referred to. Albert Schneider. 113 A TRUE STORY OF A WAYWARD BOB WHITE. Mother Bob White, with due maternal entrance into this world they had gained care, had selected a most appropriately the assurance which comes from meeting concealed spot for her treasure. The and overcoming difficulties, roughly constructed nest was built upon Mother Bob White had been carefully high ground, and was artfully hidden at guarding her little brown family, leading the base of a tuft of dried grass. That ihe them for^h daily in quest of small bugs necessary moisture, which adds vitality and scattered seeds, always upon the look- and strength to the young should not be out for possible enemies, never failing to lacking, she had deposited her eggs al- flutter away, feigning a crippled wing, most upon the bare earth, only a thin, should I chance to come upon her sud- but closely woven mat of dried grass in- denly. And on such occasions look as tervening between the nine white eggs quickly and intently as I might I seldom and the brown earth. The days of in- caught a glimpse of those brown bodies cubation were divided between the two that so well obey the parting cry of warn- old birds, the cock performing his share ing, uttered by the mother as she fluttered of the parent's duties. When the hen just beyond my reach, leading me straight was collecting her food he would nestle away from her trembling family. Should down upon the eggs with a care equally you wish to find one of the little chicks as great as that bestowed by the mother, you may do so by carefully feeling among After the chicks were hatched the cock the tufts of grass and other decayed shook himself free of any and all respon- brown vegetation nearest the spot where sibility, and betook himself to the one's eye lost them, meadows to enjoy the more liberal forage. Upon one occasion I discovered sev- This desertion was most satisfactory to eral of this little brood in a most peculiar the. mother, for no doubt she wished to and interesting situation. I had startled have the entire training of the little ones the mother-bird while she was leadingher left strictly to her care. She would not young ones through a wood, the ground lead the chicks forth until sure of his de- thickly covered with dried leaves, and, as parture. What fluffy little brown beau- she fluttered away from almost beneath ties they were as they dodged in and out my feet, I dared not move for fear of among the weeds and grasses, learning crushing one of the chicks. They scat- their first lessons in the roughest school tered and see'med to have disappeared on of life, the school of experience ! They all sides near me. Gazing intently upon had many dangers to guard against, and the mass of brown leaves, I was thinking they learned that much work was re- how I could extricate myself without quired of them before their insatiable lit- harming the hidden brood, when my eye tie appetites were satisfied. They must caught the slight motion of a leaf almost brave attacks from foxes, skunks, weasels against my foot. I stooped and gently and minks upon the ground, and at the raised the leaf. It felt wonderfully heavy, same time keep an alert eye upward for This oddity of weight prepared me for the sudden advent of some hungry hawk the surprise yet in store. When the leaf by day, or the relentless swoop of owls by had been lifted a sufficient distance to en- night. Their nights were spent in anx- able me to look beneath, I caught a iety, and, in fact, then they were most in- glimpse of a tiny brown rascal clinging secure, as owls, and foxes especially, ap- desperately. He was in the drollest of preciate a young quail and exert them- positions, clinging feet uppermost, selves to capture them. Their caution, I soon learned to know about where however, could not interfere with their Mrs. Bob White's brood could be found, obtaining a supply of food and water, so and they were quite grateful for the they braved many dangers every hour of crumbs scattered daily within their reach, their lives, and not many days after their usually along an old and dusty wagon 114 road which passed but a short distance close by. I finally captured the willful from the spot where the nest had been, son, and fearing lest he should again The mother would lead her flock' forth elude me, I carried him in one hand apart where for a few minutes would be enacted from those in the hat. This is how a little ttpn amusing scene as she attempted their quail came to live with me, and he re education in the art of dusting them- ceived the sturdy name of Bob because of selves. They would stand amazed, watch- its aptness to his nature, ing the cloud of fine dust raised by their Bob's brothers and sisters were given teacher, until one by one, they seemed to to a bantam hen, who had made a failure understand her meaning and then squat- with her own brood. She was happy to ting down in a circle, they made feeble receive these new cares, and this time ac- imitations of her vigorous motions. complished her maternal duties to her en- Wayward Bob was one of this family tire satisfaction, rearing all to their full of nine, but as yet he had not been growth. But Bob went with me. I placed named, and, indeed, had he been, it would a box in my room for him, and devoted have taken a close critic to have distin- many pleasant moments to feeding him, guished him from his relatives. watching his growth, and training his Bob, together with his brothers and belligerent ways. sisters, was seven days old and had My little friend became a great mis- learned quite rapidly to pick small bugs chief as he grew older. He was allowed from the weeds and grasses, when a great full freedom that summer and fall and misfortune befell him and I fear but for his favorite pastime was annoying a brood my timely assistance nine little homeless, of late hatched chickens. Down he would motherless quails would have sadly fly among those chicks, pecking at them longed for the sturdy care of their affec- spitefully, until the mother forced him to donate guardian. I had repaired to the beat a hasty retreat. old wagon road, to scatter a few crumbs One noon as the dining-room door upon the ground and watch the antics of stood ajar, Bob entered with a whirr, my little friends. This time they were alighting upon the table when luncheon later than usual in coming to their dust- was being served. The visitor helped ing place. No doubt, the mother had himself daintily from the contents of a given them a wider knowledge of their platter. I reached my hand toward the little world that day. pretty offender, but his fear of my touch When they came, I caught sight of caused him to fly quickly aside. In doing them some distance from the side of the this he collided with a cup of tea, thus up- road, wending their way through a tangle setting it, and causing the contents to fall of weeds near a large pile of stones. As upon my mother's gown. This act barred I looked a weasel darted from under those him from the dining-room, and he then concealing rocks. I cried aloud, and contented himself by pursuing flies and rushed forward but my assistance came grasshoppers upon the lawn, too late for the heroic little mother ; and One day a large grasshopper alighted thus nine little orphans were thrust upon upon my window. Bob's alert form came me for support. The young ones were so a moment later, and he made a dart for terrified by the suddenness of their afflic- the coveted morsel. The grasshopper tion that they gathered in a helpless knot flew across the room, alighting behind a by the scene of the tragedy. 1 gently picture which was standing upon a table, lifted eight of the fluffy chicks and de- Bob, nothing daunted by his late failure, posited them in my hat. There was yet flew rapidly across the room, and against one more to be cared for. He looked up the picture. He had the grasshopper this with an expression of trust and fear com- time, and it disappeared rapidly down his mingled. I reached foith my hand to take brown throat ; but that was not the end, him, but, being a sturdy little fellow he for the picture toppled forward and fell, decided to take his chances in the wide breaking the delicate frame work and world, so he quickly darted from my hand damaging a much prized portrait. This and disappeared among the many weeds act brought Bob disgrace and punish- 115 / ment. He was not again allowed the full with piqued interest. He sped quickly liberty of the house. to her side, she retreating farther and far- My pet grew large and strong during ther away across the orchard to the place the fall and winter -and I spent many where the other lover was watching and pleasant moments watching his mis- waiting for the rival who had gained chievous pranks and quaint actions. favor in her eyes. Bob and his rival met Spring came at last, and the summer face to face in the dusty wagon road near songsters were arriving, treating us to the spot where my pet's early life was many a happy anthem. The blue bird spent. Then there was a duel for love, flitted by unnoticed. The robins were with the little modest brown lady-bird as building their nests, and that gaudy sum- umpire and prize. mer visitor, the red-breasted grosbeak, The rivals chased each other up and had arrived in the gorgeous splendor of his down the dusty lane. At last Bob was spring plumage, when far away across the victorious, and his rival quickly took sweetly scented meadows echoed the bob wing, followed by the angry victor. Pres- white of my little pet's relatives. Bob ently Bob returned alone, and approached would listen with head alert to this call, his bride. She had laid a scheme to test and then he would pace up and down his his love, and was now ready to abide by box just as you have seen wild animals the result of the conflict, do in a zoological garden. With all my My little pet led his mate away through kindness I had failed to deaden his love the wavy grasses, a victor and a king over for the wild life of his kind. One day, the heart of his loved one. Several weeks when Bob was perched upon my window later, after a nest had been built and a sill, there came from across the orchard downy brood hatched, I came upon my a sharp and clear bob white ! This was old pet. It was a sunny day, and while more than my little friend could with- strolling down an orchard path, Bob flew stand. He walked up and down, seeking down in front of me, where he stood, vainly for a way to escape. In his sturdy trembling and terrified. Thinking to help body the varied emotions of a captive my old friend in his distress, I put forth were contending. There was anxiety and my hand to take him up. I should have hope, anger and fear, love and hate, com- known him better. In an instant he was mingled in his every motion. changed. He eyed me with that old keen, Moved by my pet's desire for freedom, distrustful glance, rose quickly from my I threw open the sash. Out he flew, with feet, and flew rapidly away. Hardly had a joyous whirr of his wings, and alight- he gone fifty yards when a pigeon hawk ing upon the garden fence, with his char- that had been waiting and watching, dart- acteristic energy, he uttered his first bob ed forth, and swooped down upon poor white ! clear and strong. Bob while in mid-air. A loud snap as the He remained near home, giving me a hawk struck, a sharp cry from the bonny good opportunity to watch his habits, victim, and a few feathers floating slowly He daily came to the house for food, and down told too pathetically of Bob's aw- never was he disappointed, as I regular- ful fate. I gathered up the scattered ly placed a handful of wheat where he plumage, a memorial of the little wayward could reach it. quail I had fed and reared to maturity. One day a great happiness entered the Bob seemed quite a patriot to me, as I life of my little friend. He was uttering reflected upon his decision when he elud- his call with the sweet tremulous notes of ed my hand that final time. "Liberty or a love-sick life. Borne from the upper death," he seemed to say, as he flew rap- orchard there came an answering call idly away. He exhibited that trait, in his from another lover in search of a bride, bird-like way, by which great men have Bob's head went up higher and higher ; won fame and renown, so he, too, is he hurried along on an old rail fence, worthy of having his story related and his sending his challenge for combat across life immortalized. to his rival, for lurking near was a little Charles Thompson, brown form watching Bob's sturdy mien 116 THE OSWEGO TEA. The Labiatae, or family of mints, con sists of about one hundred and sixty genera, including the one to which the Oswego Tea of our illustration belongs Under these genera are classed over three thousand distinct species. Many of these are well-known plants, such as the minrs, pennyroyal, anise, bergamot, fennel, cat nip, sage, thyme, lavender and rosemary. Representatives of this family are dis tributed throughout the world in the reni- perate and tropical regions. In fact, it is one of the most cosmopolitan of the plant families. The characteristics of the family are very marked. The foliage abounds in volatile oils which generally give off an aromatic odor, especially when the leaves are bruised. The leaves are oppos^ and usually arise from a four-sided stem. The flowers, as a rule, are strongly two-lipped. This character gives to the family its scientific name, which is derived from a Latin word meaning lip. The stamens are attached to the corolla and are usual ly four in number, two of which are longer than the others. The ovary is four- lobed, and the resulting fruit consists of four nutlets, each containing one t»eed. The Oswego Tea belongs to the genus Monarda, a group of plants named in honor of Nicolas Monardes, a Spanish physician and botanist of the sixteenth century He wrote a number of valuable papers on the medicinal and other econom ic plants, especially treating of those from America. This genus includes about ten species, all natives of North America and Mexico. The Oswego Tea (Monarda didyma) is frequently called Bee Balm, and locally it is often known as Fragrant Balm, Moun tain Mint and Indian Plume. This plant prefers a moist soil near the wooded banks of streams and in the hilly and mountainous regions of Canada and the United States, east of the Mississippi River. In North Carolina it is found at an altitude of over five thousand feet. The leaves are egg-shaped, elongated, taper-pointed and more or less saw- toothed on the margins. The floral leaves are tinged with red of nearly the same shade as that of the bright red and showy flowers. The flowers which - appear in July, August and September and are about two inches in length, are massed in a dense, solitary and globular head, which is situated at the end of the flower stalk. The flowers produce an abundant nec tar, which attracts bumblebees, butter flies and humming birds ; these by trans ferring the pollen from flower to flower assist in the fertilization of the develop ing seeds. The ordinary bees are barred from the sweets of this plant because of their short tongues, though some forms will cut a hole in the side of the corolla and obtain the nectar in this manner. It is said that certain Indian tribes use this bark in preparing a tea that is nearly as palatable as that made from the ordin ary tea of commerce. 353 OSWEGO TEA OR BEE BALM. FROM NATURE'S GARDE* COPYRIGHT 1900. BV 119 FLOWERS AND THEIR UNBIDDEN GUESTS. In the September number we consid- plants, and it may be noticed that it is apt ered flowers and their invited guests, that to increase in amount and prominence is the insects useful in carrying pollen, towards or within the flower cluster. Some- The very things which attract useful in- times the flowers themselves are hairy out- sects to flowers are attractive also to use- side,andinthecaseof the trailing arbutus, less insects. For example, nectar in a whose flowers close to the ground are in flower seems just as desirable to an ant special danger from creeping insects, the as to a butterfly, but the ant is a creeping flowers are filled with a fluffy mass of insect and would be likely to lose the hairs. In our illustrations, the wild co- pollen in passing from one plant to an- lumbine, the Oswego tea, the sunflower, other. If useless insects found free ac- and the ox-eye daisy are all hairy plants, cess to flowers and carried off their food and difficult for ants to climb. In the supplies, the useful insects would soon September number are illustrations of the stop visiting them. It is of great advan- mallow, the lady's slipper, and the New tage to flowers, therefore, to have some England aster, all of which are hairy and means of warding off the creeping in- discouraging to ants. sects. It must not be understood that all An interesting fact in connection with plants are equally successful in this mat- the wild columbine may be noted. The ter, or that any plant is always successful, nectar is deposited in the knob-like bot- but there are certain things which seem torn of the long tubular spurs, and the en- to hinder or discourage the approach of trance is so carefully guarded that only creeping insects to flowers. ' a long and slender proboscis, like that of Perhaps ants may be taken as the best a moth or a butterfly can reach the nectar, illustration of the insects whose visits are The bumblebees, however, have learned discouraged by flowers. They are very this fact, and bite through the tips of the much attracted to the food supplies in the spurs and steal the nectar. As a conse- fiower, especially the nectar, and are quence, the wild columbine is said to be among the most intelligent of insects, little visited by the proboscis-bearing in- often overcoming the most serious ob- sects, and its pollination is seriously in- stacles. They will be considered in this terfered with. paper, therefore, as the insects which are Sticky excretions. — Some plants have seeking the nectar and pollen of flowers the power of excreting upon their surface without invitation. A charming little a sticky substance like mucilage. This book upon this subject has been written mucilage may be produced by hairs, by Kerner, and translated into English, which are then called "glandular hairs," under the title which appears at the head or it may appear directly on the surface of this paper. It is in this book that the of the plant. When ants or other insects chief obstacles to such unwelcome guests try to cross such a barrier they are not as ants are clearly stated. merely stopped but caught. Upon Hairs. — One of the most common ob- "glandular" plants it is very common to stacles to ants is a barrier of hair. For see small insects stuck fast, and it is more some reason, ants dislike to cross such a than probable that the nourishing ma- barrier. Travellers in tropical countries, terial of their bodies is digested and ab- where ants abound, tell us that a hair rope sorbed by the plant. In this way the plant laid around a tent is a very effective bar- not merely stops the insect, but catches rier against the invasion of armies of ants, and devours it. Hair is very commonly found upon A very common illustration of such a 120 plant is the "catchfly," whose name sug gests its power. The joints of its stem are long, and near the upper end of each joint is a band of mucilage. This series of sticky bands forms a very effective barrier to any insect trying to crawl up the stem. Isolation. — In some cases plants or their flowers are isolated from creeping insects by water, which forms a most efficient barrier. This has been demon strated by housekeepers, who in the days of "safes" were accustomed to set the legs of the safe in cans of water to ward off the invasion of ants. Of course, plants standing in the water are well isolated, and usually show no further device for warding off creeping insects. There is an interesting fact connected with one of our water smartweeds, which has to do with our subject. Ordinarily it stands in shallow water, and is perfectly smooth ; but when occasionally the water dries up the plant becomes hairy. That this has anything to do with the danger from creeping insects is unlikely, but the hairy covering certainly appears at a very op portune time. The teasel was once extensively culti- * vated as a fuller's plant, and one or two species of it have become common as wild plants, their dense and prickly flow ering spikes looking like swabs for cleaning lamp chimneys. The plant is tall and coarse, and is peculiar in that its large opposite leaves unite by their bases about the stem to form a cup. In this way a series of cups is developed on the stem, and in each cup there is water. When a creeping insect crawls over the edge of the cup he sees the stem rising from a pool of water which must be crossed. As there is a series of such pools it is very unlikely that any such in sect reaches the showy cluster of flowers. The so-called "travelers' tree" of the tropics is a teasel upon a larger scale. The enormous flower cluster is at the top of the plant, and between it and the ground is a series of very large water- containing cups formed by the leaves. The popular name has been given by travelers who have been represented as reaching a cup with a spear and piercing it, thus obtaining a supply of water. The story is very doubtful, and the water, usually full of the macerating bodies of insects, is still more doubtful. Latex. — By this term is meant the milky juice which some plants possess. When such a plant is punctured or torn the latex flows out, and as soon as it is exposed to the air it becomes more and more sticky until it hardens. It is from the latex of certain trees that India rub ber is obtained, but it may be observed in many plants, notably the milkweeds, which have received their popular name on account of it. The milkweed may be used to illustrate how latex may be of service in warding off creeping insects. In many cases the plant is entirely smooth, and the stems of the flower cluster are even slippery. When an ant reaches these slippery sur faces it clutches for a hold and its sharp claws pierce the tender skin of the plant. Immediately a drop of latex oozes out and becomes sticky, and when the ant seeks to lift its feet there is resistance, and in the struggle the claws clutch deeper, more latex oozes out and becomes more and more sticky, until finally the insect is stuck fast. The flower clusters of certain milkweeds are often found plentifully cov ered with small captured insects. Protective shapes. — Many flowers se crete their nectar so that a creeping in sect cannot reach it, but the suitable in sect can. Illustrations are numerous, but the following will suffice. The wild columbine, represented in one of our illustrations, secretes its nec tar at the bottom of long tubular spurs, which can be traversed by slender pro- bosces, but are impassable to creeping insects. Spurs are developed in many flowers, notably the orchids, and they are always associated with nectar secretion and the visits of proboscis-bearing in sects. In the Pentstemon, a plant whose flow ers have two lips, as in the Oswego tea in our illustration, but not so prominent, the nectar is secreted in a little pit. Across the mouth of this pit one of the siairens, modified for this purpose, is placed like a drop-bar, leaving but a thin crevice lead ing to the nectar pit. Through this crev- 121 ice a thread-like proboscis may be thrust, notably the ants, who are not abroad but a creeping insect cannot pass. after "the dew falls." In the snapdragon the two lips of the Protection against grazing animals, flower are tightly closed, the lower one — Although we are considering the ways decidedly projecting. Any small inject by which creeping insects are checked in reaching- this lower lip as a natural land- their efforts to visit flowers, it seems per- ing place finds no entrance. When the tinent to mention the more universal bumblebee alights upon the lower lip, danger which comes from grazing ani- how^ver, his weight depresses it and he mals. If flowers were as attractive to forces his way in, and in passing to an- grazing animals as they are to insects other flower effects pollination. It is in- they would be in danger of wholesale de- teresting to note that after this first and struction. It can be observed, however, important visit the lips remain open and that these animals as a rule avoid the other insects pass in freely, "being in- flowers of a plant, although they may vited," as some one has said, "to eat at strip off its leaves. It is believed that this the second table." avoidance is due to the fact that in or In most of the orchids there is a very about the flower cluster there are usually complete adaptation of the flower to its secreted bitter, sour, or nauseous sub- insect, by which almost every insect ex- stances, which grazing animals have cepting one special kind obtains nothing learned to avoid. It should not be im- for its visit. The nectar is usually in the agined that these substances are there for end of a long spur, and to obtain it the that purpose, but being there the result head of the insect must just fit between is that the flowers are avoided. It is un- two sticky buttons to which the pollen- known how generally true this is, and the masses are attached. The length of the effectiveness of this method of protection spur is nicely adjusted to the length of may have been exaggerated. Those who the proboscis of the visiting insect, but can observe cattle, however, are in a posi- his head must also be of a certain breadth, tion to test them with the flowers of the If an insect visits the flower with a pro- various plants they are known to eat, and boscis too short or too long, or a head determine how far they avoid them, too broad or too narrow, its visit is un- In conclusion, it may be of interest to availing. The danger of such narrow call attention to the great complexity of specialization is apparent in the case of relations existing among plants and ani- the orchids, for each plant is so depen- mals by repeating Darwin's famous illus- dent upon a special insect that the dis- tration known as "Cats and Clover." In appearance of the latter seriously en- a certain district in England he observed dangers the continued existence of the that the clover was pollinated by the bum- former, blebees, which had their nests in the Protective closure. — It has long been fields. It followed, therefore, that the noticed that certain flowers open only in more the bumblebees, the more the the evening, the evening primrose being clover. He also observed that the field a conspicuous example. These flowers mice preyed upon the young broods of are adapted to the visits of the night- the bumblebees, and, therefore, the more fliers, the moths, and about clusters of the field mice, the fewer the bumblebees evening primroses numerous large hawk- and the less the clover. When cats were moths may be seen after sunset. During plenty and preyed upon the field mice it the day the flowers are closed and safe followed that the more the cats, the fewer from the visits of any insect, but by open- the mice, the more the bumblebees, and ing in the evening they are not only ready the more the clover. Therefore, the crop for the visits of the night-fliers, but they °f clover depended upon the presence of avoid the visits of most creeping insects, cats in the neighborhood. John Merle Coulter. 122 HOW WE MAY BEST PAY THE DEBT. . In the last number of Birds and Na- what they want to do when they are ture we saw that the debt we owe the caged up, and there are many interest- birds is by no means a small one, but ing things about them that we shall is really greater than we can hope ever never know if we study only the caged to fully repay. It is a debt of gratitude ones. What we want to know is the for the good work the birds do in keep- bird just .as he is as a free bird in the ing checked the increase of insect life fields and woods. We shall not be pay- which would surely become a great ing much of the debt if we cage him pest if very numerous ; it is a debt of up even to study his habits, money value for the fruits and grains What we need the most is the most and other products of the earth which valuable to us. What the birds need the birds make possible by eating the most is a place where they can live and insects which eat the plants ; it is a raise their young with the least danger, debt of love for the pleasure and in- All birds are surrounded by their nat- spiration which they bring with each ural enemies, which are sure to kill a returning springtide, for the courage great many of them, but with the addi- which their cheerful endurance of all tion of cats, rats and human beings in- sorts of bad weather inspires. There is tent upon killing them they seem to one best way to pay the debt, and that have a poor chance of life. Then if we way is to take such a lively interest in can provide a place or places where the birds that we shall want to know these enemies will be less sure to get all about their lives and as much as we them and their eggs or young, we shall can learn about the language they be paying the debt we owe in the great- speak and the thoughts they have, est measure possible. Can we provide When we have such an interest in them any such safe retreats? I think we we shall not want to kill them, but we can. Your own door yard may be shall do what we can to make them made such a retreat. Banish all cats love us and trust us so they will no and dogs who love bird flesh. See to longer want to fly away when we come it that stray cats and dogs are in dan- near them. ger of their lives on your lawn or in We shall be paying the debt we owe your yard. Let every boy know that to the birds when we try to make the birds on, your premises must not friends with them, for there is nothing be disturbed in any way. Instead of greater or better than true friendship, carefully trimming out all the tangles nothing that counts for more where of the vines and branches remember friends are so greatly needed. Our that such places are where the birds de- first effort at making friends with the light to build their nests. Put up bird birds is usually to give them some- boxes and houses for the martins, thing to eat, forgetting or not know- wrens, swallows and bluebirds and ing that what is best for us may not.be keep the English sparrows out of them, good for them. After we have watched Make it easy for the birds while they them getting their own meals we shall arc feeding their young. In short, know what each bird likes best, and give the birds which prefer your yard then, instead of frightening them away a little attention and you will soon be with food that they cannot eat, we shall on friendly terms with them and they draw them to us by offering them what will many times repay any trouble you they like best. may put yourself to for their sakes. We may think that we shall be able Any study of the birds is not wasted to learn all about the birds if we can time, but time profitably spent, get them into a cage and study them Lynds Jones, there. But birds are not free to do i 125 A FEW OF THE BIRD FAMILY. The old bob white, and chipbird; The flicker and chee-wink, And little hopty-skip bird Along the river brink. The blackbird and snowbird, The chicken-hawk and crane ; The glossy old black crow-bird, And buzzard, down the lane. The yellowbird and redbird, The tom-tit and the cat; The thrush and that redhead bird The rest's all pickin' at ! The jay-bird and the bluebird, The sap-suck and the wren — The cockadoodle-doo bird, And our old settin' hen ! James Whitcomb Riley. THE DOMESTIC FOWL. The writers of antiquity used the term specifically it is applied to the domestic fowl to include all the members of the cock and hen, or, as they are more famil- bird tribe and, in some cases, the young iarly called, chickens (Callus domesticus). of other animals. Feathered creatures, The word chicken appropriately belongs no» matter what their habits, were not to the common fowl when under one year called birds, neither were they separated of age, yet it is used to indicate those of into classes other than the "Fowls of the any breed and of any age between birth Air," "Fowls of the Sea," "Fowls of the and maturity. In this connection it is of Earth," and similar descriptive divisions, interest to note that in the English lan- In the seventeenth and the earlier part guage the common fowl has no distinctive of the eighteenth century, the word fowl name. The term hen, frequently used, was applied to any large feathered ani- should be applied only to the female of mal and the term bird to those of less this and other domestic fowls, size. In early times the word bird was The progenitor of the common fowl is used in the sense of brood and included generally conceded to be the Red Jungle the young of all animals. In an early act . Fowl (Gallus ferrugineus or bankiva), of the Parliament of Scotland we find the though there are three other wild species, expression "Wolf-birdis," referring to all oriental. This species is a native of the very young wolf. India, a part of China, the adjacent isl- At the present time the term fowl in its ands and the Philippines. Its habits are wider sense is generally used to include diversified, for we. are told it may "be all the forms of farm poultry, both when found in lofty forests and in the dense living and when prepared for food. More thickets, as well as in bamboo-jungles, 126 and when cultivated land is near its haunts, it may be seen in the fields, after the crops are cut, in straggling parties of from ten to twenty/' This wild species closely resembles the breed of poultry fanciers called the "Black- breasted Game," but the crow of the wild cock is not as loud or prolonged as that of the tame one. All the evidence that we possess seems to indicate that this wild fowl was first domesticated in Burmah. The Chinese, as indicated by tradition, received their poultry from Burmah as early as 1400 B. C. Records show that about 1200 or 800 B. C., as some authorities hold, the eat ing of the tame fowl was forbidden, though the use of the wild fowl as food was permitted. It seems evident that the fowl reached Europe, after domestication, about the sixth century before the time of Christ. It continued" westward, for Julius Caesar found it in Britain at the time of his con quests. Both the wild and the tame fowls are mentioned by the early Latin and Greek writers. Homer writing about 900 B. C. does not refer to the fowl, but it is mentioned by Aristophanes at a date near 500 B. C. It is of interest to know that the domesticated form is not men tioned in the Old Testament. It is said that some of the pagan tribes living at the present time on the east coast of Africa have a marked aversion to the domestic fowl. This may account for the absence of any representation of the fowl on the ancient Egyptian monuments, though it was represented on the Baby lonian cylinders about the sixth or sev enth century before Christ. In this con nection it should be mentioned that many other people, notably the natives of the islands adjacent to the Australian contin ent and some of the Indian tribes of South America, show a strong dislike to this domestic bird as a food. By selection, both natural and by man, many breeds have been produced. Dr. Charles Darwin says: "Sufficient ma terials do not exist for tracing the history of the separate breeds. About the com mencement of the Christian era, Co- lumella mentions a five-toed fighting breed, and provincial breeds ; but we know nothing about them. He also al ludes to dwarf fowls ; but these cannot have been the same with our Bantams, which were imported from Japan into Bantam in Java. A dwarf fowl, probably the true Bantam, is referred to in an old Japanese Encyclopedia, as I am informed. In the Chinese Encyclopedia published in 1596, but compiled from various sources, some of high antiquity, seven breeds are mentioned." The number of breeds is very indefinite. Darwin enumerates thirteen, including many sub-breeds. The American Poul try Association recognizes more than thirty, with several varieties of some of them. The game or fighting breed more closely resembles the wild form of India than do any of the others. The Japanese, so noted for their won derful development of dwarfed trees, are also the originators of the smallest fowls — the Bantams. Another interesting breed is called "Jumpers" or "Creepers/' Their legs are so short that they are com pelled to move by jumping. The wild hen lays from eight to twelve white eggs in nests, seldom of better con struction than a few dried leaves or grass scratched together in a secluded spot. It is said that "to every hen belongs an in dividual peculiarity in the form, color, and size of her egg, which never changes during her life-time, so long as she re mains in health, and which is as well known to those who are in the habit of taking her produce, as the hand-writing of their nearest acquaintance." We are told that the tame hen raises a brood of physically stronger offspring when al lowed to select her own nesting place in some locality with natural surroundings. The wild and the tame fowl alike eat a variety of foods, both animal and vegeta ble, but prefer the latter. With reference to the habits and char acteristics of this interesting domestic bird of our farm yards and orchards no words can describe them more aptly than those so delightfully written by Gail Hamilton, when she says : "A chicken is beautiful and round and full of cunning ways, but he has no resources for an emergency. He will lose his reckoning and be quite out at sea, though only ten 127 steps from home. He never knows enough to turn a corner. All his intelli gence is like light, moving only in straight lines. He is impetuous and timid, and has not the smallest presence of mind or sagacity to discern between friend and foe. He has no confidence in any earthly power that does not reside in an old hen. Her cluck will be followed to the last ditch, and to nothing else will he give heed. I am afraid that the Interpreter was putting almost too fine a point upon it, when he had Christiana and her children into another room where was a hen and chickens, and bid them observe awhile. So one of the chickens went to a trough to drink, and every time she drank she lifted up her head and her eyes toward heaven. 'See/ said he, 'what this little chick doth, and learn of her to acknowl edge whence your mercies come, by re ceiving them with looking up.' Doubtless the chick lifts her eyes toward heaven, but a close acquaintance with the race would put anything but ac knowledgment in the act. A gratitude that thanks heaven for favors received, and then runs into a hole to prevent any other person from sharing the benefit of these favors, is a very questionable kind of gratitude, and certainly should be con fined to the bipeds that wear feathers. Yet if you take away selfishness from a chicken's moral make-up, and fatuity from his intellectual, you have a very chaming creature left. For, apart from their excessive greed, chickens seem to be affectionate. They have sweet, social wavs. They huddle together with fond, cares sing chatter, and chirp soft lullabies. Their toilet performances are full of in terest. They trim each other's bills with great thoroughness and dexterity, much better, indeed, than they dress their own heads, for their bungling, awkward little claws make sad work of it. It is as much as they can do to stand on two feet, and they naturally make sev eral revolutions when they attempt to stand on one. Nothing can be more lu dicrous than their early efforts to walk. They do not really walk. They sight their object, waver, balance, decide, and then tumble forward, stopping all in a heap as soon as the original impetus is lost — gen erally some way ahead of the place to which they wished to go. It is delightful to watch them as drowsi ness films their round, bright, black eyes, and the dear old mother croons them under her ample wings, and they nestle in perfect harmony. How they manage to bestow themselves with such limited ac commodations, or how they manage to breathe in a room so close, it is difficult to imagine. They certainly deal a stag gering blow to our preconceived notions of the necessity of oxygen and ventilation, but they make it easy to see whence the Germans derived their fashion of sleep ing under feather beds. But breathe and bestow themselves they do. The deep mother breast and the broad mother wings take them all in. They penetrate her feathers, and open for themselves unseen little doors into the mysterious, brooding, beckoning dark ness. But it is long before they can ar range themselves satisfactorily. They chirp, and stir, and snuggle, trying to find the softest and warmest nook. Now, an uneasy head is thrust out, and now a whole tiny body ; but it soon re-enters in another quarter, and at length the stir and chirrp grows still. You see only a collec tion of little legs, as if the hen were a banyan tree, and presently even they dis appear. She settles • down comfortably and all are wrapped in a slumberous si lence. And as I sit by the hour, watching their winning ways, and see all the steps of this sleepy subsidence, I can but remember that outburst of love and sorrow from the lips of Him who, though He came to earth from a dwelling place of ineffable glory, called nothing unclean because it was common, found no homely detail too homely or too trivial to illustrate the Father's love; but from the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the lilies of the field, the stones in the street, the foxes in their holes, the patch on the coat, the oxen in the furrow, the sheep in the pit, the camel under his burden, drew lessons of divine pity and patience, of heavenly duty and delight." 128 BOB WHITE. Who's whistling so cheerfully down in the clover, When the meadows are wet with the sweet morning dew? He's piping and calling, this ardent young lover, And telling his tale the whole morning through, What is it he says in the early sunlight ? "Bob White I Bob White! Bob— Bob White !" At noon, when the day god in wrath has descended, With his swift golden arrows, on grain-field and hill ; And the birds of the morning their love songs have ended, Then deep in the wood, and down by the rill I hear a shrill whistle, so cheerful and bright : "Wheat ripe ? Bob White ! Not — not quite !" When shadows of evening are lengthening slowly, Ere the night dews lie damp on the meadows again ; As light breezes sweep o'er the soft grass so lowly, What is it he says ? I hear the refrain, While in the thick verdure he's hid from my sight: "Good night ! Bob White ! Good — good night." Erne L. Hallett. It might almost be said that the birds The very idea of a bird is a symbol are all birds of the poets and of no and a suggestion to the poet. A bird one else, because it is only the poetical seems to be at the top of the scale, so temperament .that fully responds to vehement and intense is his life — large- them. So true is this, that all the great brained, large-lunged, hot, ecstatic, ornithologists — original namers and his frame charged with buoyancy and biographers of the birds — have been his heart with song. The beautiful poets in deed if not in word. Audubon vagabonds, endowed with every grace, is a notable case in point, who, if he masters of all chimes, and knowing no had not the tongue or pen of the poet, bounds — how many human aspirations certainly had the eye and ear and heart are realized in their free, holiday lives, and the singleness of purpose, the en- and how many suggestions to the poet thusiasm, the unworldliness, the love, in their flight and song ! that characterize the true and divine John Burroughs race of bards. in "Birds and Poets." 131 THE RAINBOW TROUT. (Salmo irideus) The rainbow trout is a native of the given to them other names, as Red mountain streams and lakes of the Pa- Sides, Mountain Trout, Brook Trout, cific coast, ranging from the coast of etc. The Rainbow Trout, when taken Washington to San Diego, California, from clear, cool water, is an extremely It was first made known to science in handsome fish. It is usually bluish in J855 by Dr. Gibbons from specimens the upper part of the body; sides sil- taken from Leander Creek, California, very; the body is everywhere cov- It is an extremely variable species, vary- ered with small, dark spots irregularly ing greatly in size, color, activity, etc. arranged, and extending on the fins. Those found near the sea spend much The side is usually provided with a red of their time in salt water, where living band which extends on the sides of the is easier and as a result they grow head. There. is usually a dash of red larger, lose their bright color and under the chin. As soon as the fish is much of their activity. They usually taken from the water its color changes, return to fresh water with the salmon The red lateral band will pass through to feast upon their eggs. different shades of red, from a deep The following are the most impor- dark color to light crimson. The cap- tant varieties of the Rainbow Trout: tured fish thus gives its captor a dis- The Brook Trout of Western Oregon, play of bright color superior to that which is abundant in the streams of the possessed by any other fresh water Coast Range from Puget Sound to fish. Southern California. Those taken in The Rainbow Trout is quite as hand- the headwaters of these streams sel- some as the Eastern Brook Trout and dom exceed a pound in weight, while affords the angler an equal amount of those taken from brackish water, hav- sport. Those found in swift mountain ing spent considerable time in the sea, streams are strong swimmers. To usually weigh from one to five pounds, capture them with the rod the angler The McCloud River Trout is abundant must display the highest skill possible, in streams of the Sierra Nevada Moun- The same tactics which will catch a tains from Mt Shasta southward. It Rainbow Trout in one stream may fail grows to a large size, reaching, in the in the next or even a second time in larger and warmer bodies of water, a the same stream. It matters not in weight of ten to fourteen pounds. This what mountain stream you fish the variety is the Rainbow Trout of the trout you catch are always superior to fish culturists. It has been planted in those you have previously taken in many of our eastern streams, where it other streams, has become more or less abundant. The food of the Rainbow Trout is The Kern River Trout is -known made up largely of worms, Crustacea, only from the Kern River in Cali- insect larvae and the like. In the fall fornia. It often reaches a weight of those in salmon streams feast on sal- eight pounds. The No-Shee Trout in- mon eggs. During the spawning time habits the Sacramento basin ; it often of the salmon the trout in the ocean re- reaches a weight of twelve pounds, turn to fresh water and accompany the The Golden Trout of Mount Whitney salmon to their spawning beds. Many inhabits the streams on both sides of persons who catch them for table use Mount Whitney, California. do so with hooks baited with salmon The varieties mentioned here are eggs. Often salmon eggs are salted usually recognized by students of and dried and thus retained as bait for fishes, but the angler sees many more the entire year. No other bait seems varieties in different localities, and has so tempting to the Rainbow Trout. 132 The sea run individuals are not so the ventral surface of the body. After brightly colored as those which al- fertilizing them with milt taken in a ways remain in fresh water. On their similar way from the male they are return to fresh water they seem to have placed in wire trays in wooden troughs lost none of their game qualities. As through which there is flowing a cur- a table fish they are not inferior to any rent of water. In water of 50 degrees fish taken in fresh water. F. the eggs will hatch in from forty- The size of the Rainbow Trout de- two to forty-five days. A female pends upon its surroundings, the vol- weighing one-half to one and one-half ume and temperature of the water and pounds will yield from five hundred to the amount of food it contains. They eight hundred eggs. One from two vary from the mere fingerlings found to four pounds, two thousand five hun- in small mountain brooks to those dred to three thousand eggs. When from ten to fourteen pounds, the eggs are partly hatched they may as found in Klamath and be carefully placed in trays and kept other similar lakes. The Rain- free from injury, and packed in ice bow Trout will live in warmer and and sent to any part of the country. In more sluggish water than the Brook this way they are often sent across the Trout, and for this reason it is being continent, also to Europe, Brazil and planted in many streams in the east, Japan. The cool temperature stops which are unsuitable for the Brook the hatching, which will begin again as Trout. It is also being planted in soon as placed in water of suitable tem- many streams once inhabited by the perature. The fact that so many eggs Brook Trout, but because of the can be taken from one female and a change due to civilization have become very large per cent (eighty-five per unsuitable for them. Rainbow Trout cent or more) hatched makes it possi- can now be found in many streams of ble to plant, in suitable streams, a large the Allegheny region, in streams in number of young fish each year. If Michigan, in the Ozark region and in the eggs were deposited in the stream many streams of the Western States, by the fishes themselves the greater The Rainbow Trout is a superior game number would be eaten by young fish. It is a vigorous biter, and fights fishes, crustaceans, insects, etc. Here bravely for liberty. In no respects is is a case where man is able to assist it inferior to the Eastern Brook Trout, mother nature, and to preserve and The method of hatching Rainbow widely distribute some of our most Trout is very interesting. At govern- useful fishes. The Rainbow Trout is ment hatching stations a large number receiving much attention and yielding of males and females are kept in ponds profitable returns. It will always give for breeding purposes. When ready the angler an opportunity to display to spawn the eggs are easily taken his highest skill, and afford a fair rec- from the female by gently pressing on ompense for the toil of fishery. Seth E. Meek. Day is a snow-white dove of heaven, That from the east glad message brings : Night is a stealthy, evil raven, Wrapped to the eyes in his black wings. Thomas Bailey Aldrich. 133 THE GEOLOGICAL SUCCESSION OF FISHES. In discussing this subject it will be necessary to say something about the geological history of the earth. Each geological age had its own peculiar fauna, and to write about any part of it means that we must know something about the particular geological age in which the animals under consideration flourished, and something of the earth's previous history. The earth is supposed to be a small, condensed portion of the gaseous ma terial which astronomers tell us at one time pervaded all space. The heat given off when the gas was condens ing has been largely converted into me chanical energy which makes the earth revolve once in twenty-four hours and sends it flying through space. As soon as the earth decreased to about its present size and became cool enough for water to be condensed on its surface, it began to write its own history. Its entire surface may have at one time been covered to a uniform depth by water. If such was ever the case it did not remain so long. The in terior of the earth was very hot and the crust cooled very irregularly and por tions of it rose above the surface of the water. Since then there have been two antagonizing forces at work. The heat has caused the earth's surface to become irregular and the water has made a strong effort, which has been partially successful, to reduce all irreg ularities to the same level. We do not know how long these forces nearly bal anced each other, but sooner or later dry land appeared in many places on the earth's surface. This was for a long period of time washed by heavy rains while the shores for some dis tance seaward were worn away by ac tion of the tidal waves. Much of the land area then sank below sea level, and became covered with sand, gravel and the like. The portion which re mained above the level is called the Archaean. Later a general elevation of the land area brought above sea level much of this land and gravel, forming around the Archaean an in creased land era, which we call Silu rian. The time when the sand and gravel was deposited forming this land is known as the Silurian age. Follow ing this came the Devonian age. After this in the following order came the following geological ages: Carbonif erous, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary and then the present or Recent age, the one in which we now live. Each of these ages is characterized by the peculiar animals which then predominated, and these animals are known only from their remains imbedded in the rocks as fossils. It may not be out of place here to mention that rocks are usually placed in two great classes, those which have been subject to great heat, melted, or partly so, at one time, then cooled and hardened are called metamorphic or igneous rocks. To these belong such rocks as our granites. Those which have not been changed by heat are called sedimentary rocks, such as sand stones, limestones, etc. In the former class we find no fossils. If fossils ever existed there, the fusing of the rocks has destroyed them. Sedimentary rocks contain many . fossils. The Archaean area contains no sedimen tary rocks, hence no fossils. Between the close of the Archaean and begin ning of the Silurian is a long interval of which we know nothing. If any rocks were formed during this interval they are in no place exposed to the sur face of the earth as are portions of all 134 other formations. Life evidently ex isted then, for at the close of this in terval or rather at the beginning of the Silurian we find a large number of Invertebrates. There were corals, crinoids, brachiopods, lamellibranches, gasteropods, cephalopods, worms and crustaceans. All of these animals flourished during the Silurian. It was during the latter part of the Silurian that fishes first made their ap pearance. If they lived earlier than this they were of low organization and possessed no hard parts, and when they died they would entirely decay, leav ing nothing to be preserved as fossils. Of course, no one lived then to give fishes easy common names, and so we only know them by the long, hard scientific names given by scientific men. These we will use as little as pos sible in this article. In classifying fishes they fall into a few large groups, as follows : The lowest fish in point of structure is the lancelet, a small, semi- transparent animal, with no hard parts, as teeth, spines or bones. We would not expect it to be preserved as a fos- } sil and so we find none. The next group contains our lampreys and hag fishes. These are parasites. They vary in length from a few inches to more than three feet. With a mouth nearly circular they attach themselves to other fishes and feast upon their blood. The hag fish eats its way into the fish and remains there until its host is a living hulk of skin and bones. Fishes known as Pteraspids, thought by some scientists to belong to this group, are found in the upper part of the Silurian. The lampreys of the pres ent day have no very hard teeth and their backbone is simply very soft cartilage. These ancient lampreys, called Pteraspids, had the head and part of the body covered with a coat of mail. Of these there flourished in the last days of the Silurian quite a number of species. The next group of fishes are the sharks, the most blood-thirsty of all the inhabitants of the sea. Sharks flourished to some extent in the up per part of the Silurian. The shark has no true bones and its covering consists of shagreen tentacles. It is provided with hard teeth and the dorsal fins of the ancient shark were provided each with a hard, stout spine. The teeth were large, flat and fit for crushing. We know these ancient sharks only by the spines, shagreen tentacles and the teeth. These, how ever, furnished abundant evidence that the sharks in the upper Silurian were numerous as to individuals and species. The Chimera, a fish much resembling the sharks, was also abundant in the upper Silurian. A group of fishes usually known as ganoids and which comprise the lung fishes of the Nile, of Australia, the garpikes of North Amer ica and the sturgeons, were very abun dant during the closing days of the Silurian. The fishes of this group are especially well preserved as fossils, their covering consisted of bony plates or bucklers or of scales covered with a coat of enamel. Their outer covering was well suited to become fossilized, and so we know this group much bet ter than we do any other found in the Silurian. The next and last group of fishes is known as Teleosts, or bony fishes. To this group belong our typical fishes, such as black bass, sun fishes, suckers, cat fishes and the like. None of this group lived during the Silurian. Following the Silurian came the De vonian, which is called the age of fishes. In no time in the world's his tory have fishes been so large and so abundant as during this age. They outclassed in every respect all other animals. The same general types flourished as those which existed in the latter part of the Silurian. There were more species and more individuals and some grew to an enormous size. Fishes ruled the Devonian seas. The crustaceans, such as trilobites which greatly predominated during the Silu rian age, diminished greatly during the Devonian. In the struggle for exist ence they decreased in size and in numbers, and were obliged to seek safety in less favorable places. The Devonian fishes were largely sharks and ganoids, especially the latter. 137 These were covered, with hard, en- Chimeras which flourished from close amel-coated scales or bony plates, of Silurian also became extinct. Many Some were short and heavy and en- ganoids became extinct, but other tirely' encased in a covering of large ganoids came into existence to take bony plates. They were evidently any- their places. The ganoids most nearly thing but pretty and their movements like our modern sturgeons increased in the water must have been extremely during the last of the Devonian and re- awkward. Others were formed much tained their prominence to the close after our own ideas of fishes. These of the Carboniferous. The slow-mov- bore much resemblance to our gar- ing, heavily plated ganoids passed pikes, the lung fish of the Nile and the away. They ruled during the De- lung fish of Australia, and the worth- vonian age, but could not suit them- less dog fish of our own fresh waters, selves to the new conditions at begin- Anglers and fishermen all despise ning of the Carboniferous. While these fishes now, yet in Devonian times fishes were numerous and large in the the fishes most nearly like them were Devonian, throughout the Carbonif- evidently the most handsome and erous they began to decline. By this graceful of all fishes then living. It time the land area had much increased, appears as if fishes in those days did land plants became very abundant, not fight each other. They found there were immense forests of tropical abundant sea room and plenty of food vegetation, great swamps and peat in the form of invertebrates. Of course bogs — all of which later sank below it is quite probable that many fish-like sea level — became covered up and animals existed at this time, but pos- changed into coal. Immense lizards sessing no hard parts and were not lived in these forests and along the sea preserved as fossils; these could not be- shores; these were the first land ani- come at all important for the sea was mals. At the close of the Carbonifer- too full of large animals of all classes ous great changes took place ; greater which were so well protected with a changes than at any time since the coat of mail and so hostile that those close of the Archaean. So marked less favorably situated could not exist were the changes at this time that it in any great numbers. At the close of marks a new era in the geological his- the Devonian many changes took tory of the earth. All preceding the place. The rocks of this formation, close of the Carboniferous is regarded which now form a portion of the as ancient geology ; all since then as earth's surface, rose out of the water, modern geology. It was at this time the land area thus considerably in- that plants and animals were repre- creased, the seasons, such as they were sented by new forms more like those then, became more marked ; many in- now living. The geological age fol- land seas were formed. These changes lowing the Carboniferous is the Trias- were more or less gradual, but not so sic. With this age began our modern much so that the fishes living then sharks and fishes. They did not be- could not suit themselves to the new come abundant until the Jurassic and conditions. Those fishes which had Cretaceous. All of the earlier sharks flourished for generations had become had strong spines in front of each dor- accustomed to easy living and certain sal fin and broad teeth made for crush- fixed ways, could not adapt themselves ing. One form of these known as to changing conditions, and so became . Cestracionts were very abundant till the extinct. The Pteraspids, the earliest end of the Cretaceous. In the early forms to appear ; the Pterichthys, in Triassic they began to decline and the fact, all forms which bear any resem- sharks, with pointed teeth, increased, blance to our present lampreys, or These sharks, with pointed teeth, but which may prove a close relative of rounded on the edges, commenced the earlier ganoids, became extinct at back in the Carboniferous. During close of the Devonian. The early the Triassic the sharks, with lancet- 138 shaped teeth, such as are now pos- ginning of the Tertiary we find all of sessed by nearly all our sharks, com- our modern types of sharks and all of menced in small numbers. One of the the important orders of teleosts. The important differences between the sturgeons and ganoids decreased ganoids and the teleosts or true fishes .throughout the Tertiary or Quaternary is in the tail vertebrae. In the ganoids until at present we have but few living the tail vertebrae decrease gradually in species. The sturgeons are the more size and curve upwards in the upper abundant. Of the large group of lobe of the tail. In the teleosts the Ganoids so abundant during all these tail vertebrae ends a short distance in geological ages but few forms are liv- front of ends of the middle fin rays of ing to-day. These are the Ceratodus, the'tail fin. In the ganoids the upper lung fish of Australia; the Polypterus lobe of the tail fin is the largest. In of the Nile, the Protopterus of West- the teleosts both lobes are nearly the ern Africa, the Dogfish and the three same size. The tail of the ganoid fish Garpike of North America. These few is called heterocercal, that of our mod- species are but the remnants of a once ern or teleost fishes is homocercal. large and extensive group of fishes. The tail of all early ganoids was strong- In the study of fishes we notice that ly heterocercal. In the Triassic and some are highly specialized so far as Jurassic its lobes in many cases became their structures are concerned ; theteeth nearly equal, approaching the homo- of some become especially fitted for a cereal tail. The tails of all sharks are peculiar kind of food, and as a result heterocercal, of all modern fishes it is quite unfit for any other kind. Some, homocercal except in a few families, to be protected from their enemies, de- as the cod and related fishes, it is velop a heavy armor, which only re- Isocercal ; that is, the vertebrae de- tards their activity. Other fishes are crease in size, but do not form an up- more generalized ; that is, are of me- ward curve. So far as we know the dium size, omnivorous habits, are not Shad family is the first of our teleosts hampered in their movements by a too or true fishes to appear, and these were heavy coat of mail, etc. When any quite abundant in the early part of the change of condition's came to modify Triassic. their habits of living the specialized The rays, fish-like animals much were always the first to disappear. Be like Sharks, but with the body and fins ing particularly fitted for one mode of flattened or spread out in a broad flat life made them all the more unfitted disc, appeared in the Jurassic. The for any other, and so when conditions Chimeras, so abundant in the De- changed they perished. All of our vonian and which died out apparently modern fishes except the few ganoids at the close of the Devonian, also re- are more or less specialized. The trout appeared at the beginning of the Juras- lives in cool running water and some sic. These did not belong to the same varieties can live in no other, while families as did the more ancient some fishes have become accus- Chimeras. The Chimeras no doubt tomed to warm, stagnant water and flourished in the Carboniferous and cannot live with the trout. What is Triassic, but migrated to some portion true in this respect of fishes is true of of the sea where now perhaps their re- land animals as well. The large, pon- mains lie buried in rocks below the derous, slow-moving reptiles of the bottom of the sea. Their survivors, Triassic, Jurassic and the Cretaceous, which were able to modify their struc- and the large mammals of the Ter- ture and habits to become suited to tiary and Quarternary could not exist new conditions, returned in modified except under the peculiar conditions forms in the Jurassic, where in time of that time, and sooner or later had their remains come to the surface as to give way to the smaller, more active fossils. and more resourceful animals of their At the end of the. Cretaceous or be- class. 139 In tracing the history of fishes from their structure to suit their environ- their earliest existence to the present ment; when this changed all their one is struck with the myriad forms efforts came to naught, and they were he finds. It would seem that all possi- destined to give way to the more fa ble effort was made by them to modify vored kinds. Seth E. Meek. THE DEEP. There's beauty in the deep— The wave is bluer than the sky ; And, though the light shine bright on high, More softly do the sea-gems glow That sparkle in the depths below ; The rainbowr's tints are only made When on the waters they are laid, And sun and moon most sweetly shine Upon the ocean's level brine. There's beauty in the deep. There's music in the deep- It is not in the surf's rough roar, Nor in the whispering, shelly shore— They are but earthly sounds, that tell How little of the sea-nymph's shell, That sends its loud, clear note abroad, Or winds its softness through the flood, Echoes through groves with coral gay, And dies, on spongy banks, away. There's music in the deep. There's quiet in the deep- Above let tides and tempests rave, And earth-born whirlwinds wake the wave ; Above let care and fear contend, With sin and sorrow to the end. Here, far beneath the tainted foam, That frets above our peaceful home, We dream in joy, and wake in love, Nor know the rage that yells above. There's quiet in the deep. John G. C. Brainarcl. 140 THE AMERICAN REDSTART. ( Setophaga ruticilla . ) Contemporaneous with the blossoming out of the wild plum, the early Richmond cherry and a rich and diversified profu sion of woodland flowers, perhaps better exemplified on this occasion by such in teresting types as the little Claytonia, or spring-beauty, the rue-anemone and the trilliums, both T. erectum and grandi- florum, with perhaps a few belated blos soms of the hepatica, is the advent of this interesting little bird among us, which here in Northeastern Illinois usually plans its arrival somewhere near the clos ing days of the first week in May. Its generic name, Setophaga, inter preted into plainer English, means a de- vourer of insects, and, were we to select from among the large and varied assort ment of birds comprising the bulk of our warbler hosts a form most elegant and expressive of gayety, sprightliness, and, in a measure, frivolity, we could not go far wrong in determining upon this species so easily outclassing all others as the most brilliantly colored member of that numerously large and interesting family, the Mniotiltidae. At first a creeper and sharp-eyed in spector of hidden crannies, we after wards discern no less in him, and upon the slightest provocation, a tyrant on the wing, thereby proving a general adapta bility to and utility in his calling at all stages of the game — a constant warfare directed against the insect horde to which he devotes himself most assiduously at all times, and it is really astonishing the amount of the minute forms of insect life these little birds will consume. So then, what at first may appear to us as clever acts of trifling weight will, upon closer in spection, prove carefully executed move ments planned and carried out with the greatest precisian. Among ornithologists we find it classed as an interesting member of the group of fly-catching warblers. Equally sugges tive to the mind of the writer would be the name of the fan-tailed warbler, de rived from its well-known habit of carry ing the tail slightly elevated and partly spread. To those who may be on the lookout for just such marked characteristics among our birds this one feature alone will serve as an excellent index in deter mining its proper identification. The plainer and grayer markings of the female and immature birds may differ very considerably from the more pro nounced black and white, orange-red and salmon-colored blotches of the adult male, but never so strikingly manifesting themselves in the markings of the tail which in either case may appear to the casual observer as quite similar. Yet if we examine them more critically we will discover that they are distinctly different, the salmon-red and black-tipped feathers of the male bird being replaced by a paler reddish-yellow and grayer- tipped arrangement in the case of the female. Young males have the darker markings of the tail feathers very similar to those of the adult birds, which we are told do not take on the complete dress un til the third year. But the habit of con stantly flitting the tail in fan-like mo tions is peculiar alike to all phases of this bird's plumage and above all other charac ters serves as the greatest aid in nam ing it. The very young, or nestling dress, of which little or nothing seems to have . been written, bears a partial resemblance to that of the female bird, excepting that the wings are crossed by two yellowish bands, caused by the lighter tippings of AMERICAN REDSTART. (Setophaga ruticilla.) Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1900. BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO 143 the outer coverts. The yellow breast spots of the female are also wanting in this dress. For further particulars the reader is kindly referred to the colored plate ac companying this article. Like the robin red-breasts, the name of the Redstart seems to have been brought to America by the earlier settlers who were ever on the watch for familiar objects to remind them of former days, and, as in the case of the example just cited, wrongfully ascribed by them to a far different bird. An analogy, however, exists in the coloration of the European and American birds justifying in a meas ure the reason for so naming it. We are told, in Newton's Dictionary of Birds, that the Redstart, the Ruticilla phoenicurus of most ornithologists, is well known in Great Britain, where it is also called the Fire-tail, from the word "start" which in the original Anglo- Saxon "steort," means tail. But the English bird is very different from ours throughout, a marked distinction being its peculiarity of habit in seeking out for a nesting site a hole in a tree or ruined building. Our bird, contrary to all this, more cor rectly builds its nest out of doors, usually selecting the upright forks of some tall shrub or small tree and placing therein a neat, compact structure, in which four or five light-colored eggs are deposited that in their spotted appearance and blotching of various shades of brown re semble very closely the eggs of the com mon yellow warbler (Dendroica aestiva). But for all this, however, it repairs to the shadier depths of the woods while the yellow warbler on the other hand seeks out the more tangled thickets and willow copses. The song of the Redstart, too, bears in a striking degree a very close resem blance to that of this same yellow war bler, though, as in the case of the nest, the localities frequented by it serve read ily in making a distinction. "In general tone and quality," as Prof. Lynds Jones has remarked in No. 30 of the Wilson Bulletin, "Warbler Songs," "there is a strong resemblance to the Yellow, but the range of variation is greater and the song distinctly belongs to the 'ringing aisles' of the woods." "The common utterance can be recalled by che, che, che, che — pa, the last syllable abruptly falling and weakening." "A soft song is like wee- see, wee-see-wee, with a suggestion at least of a lower pitch for the last syllable." The range of the American Redstart is quite extended, including, as we may say, all of North America, though it is very rare and irregular in the States west of the Sierras. -It is said to breed from Kansas northward. Tabulated observations compiled by the writer at Glen Ellyn, Illinois, during the past seven years, show that the south ward movement of the Redstart com mences about the end of the first week in August; the first part of September finds them common, after which their numbers gradually wane, the last of the month, or the first few days in October, witnessing its final departure. Benjamin True Gault. 144 THE FLYING FISH. All animals are provided with some the movement of their fins. The best means of protection from the attacks authorities, however, claim that they of their enemies and with ways of es- do not possess the power of changing caping from any object which they the direction, velocity, or altitude of may fear. The means furnished to the their flight and the position of the fins Fly ing Fishes is one of the most unique is not voluntarily changed, and that and interesting. their object in leaving the water is not To escape the larger fishes that prey for food. upon them, or when frightened by a They rise without reference to the passing vessel, these fishes will rise direction of the wind or waves, and fre- from the surface of the water and with quently, when their course is at an distended but quiet fins pass over a dis- angle with the wind, the direction of tance of several feet. They have been their flight may be changed by the known to rise to a height of twelve or air currents or by contact with the more feet and fly for one hundred or waves. The direction is also modified, more yards, although the height and when passing close to the water, by mi- distance traveled is usually much less, mersing the tail fin and moving it with This power of flight is due to the great a rudder like motion, development of the breast (pectoral) There are two groups of Flying fins, situated on the sides of the body Fishes, both natives of tropical and near the head. sub-tropical seas. In one of the groups Some writers have stated that these there are less than five species, while fishes left the water for the purpose of classed under the other there are fifty catching insect food and that they had or more, the power of regulating their flight by EDITOR'S NOTE. On account of inaccuracies in the report of Mr, Chapman's lecture, which was quoted in the June number of this Magazine, it is only due to Mr. Chapman that we publish the following letter received from him: To THE EDITOR OF BIRDS AND NATURE: Dear Sir: — In the June issue of your magazine there appeared an alleged abstract from a lecture by me on the "Structure and Habits of Birds," which so abounds in errors that I beg you will permit me to state that the matter published was a newspaper report, for which I am in no way responsible. Yours respectfully, FRANK M. CHAPMAN. BIRDS AND NATURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. VIII. NOVEMBER, 1900. No. 4 SONNET— NOVEMBER. Yet one smile more, departing, distant sun, One mellow smile through the soft vapory air, Ere, o'er the frozen earth, the loud winds run, Or snows are sifted o'er the meadow bare. One smile on the brown hills and naked trees And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are cast, And the blue Gentian flower, that, in the breeze, Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last. Yet a few sunny days, in which the bee Shall murmur by the hedge that skirts the way, The cricket chirp upon the russet lea, And man delight to linger in thy ray. Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bear The piercing winter frost, and winds, and darkened air, -William Cullen Bryant.. Oh, Autumn ! Why so soon Depart the hues that make thy forests glad ; Thy gentle wind and thy fair sunny noon, And leave thee wild and sad ! Ah ! 'twere a lot too blessed Forever in thy colored shades to stray; Amid the kisses of the soft southwest To rove and dream for aye. — William Cullen Bryant. Copyright, 1900, by A. W. Mumford. 146 SOME FACTS ABOUT THE WESTERN WILLET. (Symphemia semipalmata inornata.) The Western Willet is one of the them. I have never seen a bird which at largest of the Limicolae or Shore Birds, times could be so wary and hard to ap- The body is about the size of a common proach, and again, if a number are shot pigeon, the long neck, legs and extent from a flock, the remaining birds will of wings making it appear much larger, seem to lose their senses, and I have fre- The feet are only about one-half webbed quently walked within a few feet of the and only when great danger makes it survivors before they would take flight, necessary will it go into the water be- This trait is noticeable among a large yond its depth. The bill is straight and number of shore birds and the terns, but in summer the color of the bird is gray more especially so with the Willet. above, with many small but rather dis- On the plains bordering the Brazos tinct black marks. On the sides and river, near the Gulf coast of Texas, dur- breast these marks are arrow-shaped, ing the months of April and May, I have In the plumage of winter and of the found the Willet proper (Symphemia young these markings are absent. semipalmata), a smaller and darker form, I am inclined to believe that this spe- breeding in abundance. The Willets us- cies has a more extended range than any ually select for a nesting site a thick tus- other of the order. It has become quite sock of salt marsh grass on the borders abundant of late years in the Calumet Re- of a small pond, where they can com- gion in Northern Indiana, near Chicago, mand a good view of the vicinity. In the Mr. E. W. Nelson, in the Natural His- center of this they hollow out a space of tory Survey of Illinois, says, that in the about six or eight inches in diameter, and .•seventies this species was ajrare summer simply line it with the grass they have resident on the wet prairies of North- matted down. In this nest are laid four western Illinois, although I can find no pyriform eggs of a greenish white, or a .authentic record of the taking of the nest light olive brown ground color, marked .and eggs. Captain Charles Bendire found with large, irregular blotches or brown- it abundant and resident in Southeastern ish black and faint purple ; the eggs are Oregon when he procured several sets of immense for the size of the bird, being its eggs. It is said to breed from the about two inches in length by one and .coast of Texas to Manitoba. Straggling one-half in width. flocks of from five to fifty may be found The illustration faithfully portrays along the shores of our larger fresh water three birds taken at Miller's, Indiana, on lakes, particularly Lake Michigan, dur- the beach of Lake Michigan. The color ing the fall migration, which takes place of the legs, which are obscured by the from about the fifteenth of August to the shadow of the body, is a pale, slaty blue, last of September. Though the Willets are restless and This bird might well be called the noisy birds, they are much less so, and, clown of the Limicolae. I have often indeed, quite unconscious of their sur- been amused by the antics of a flock of roundings when nesting. Regarding Willets on the shore of Lake Michigan, their habits at this time, Dr. Coues has They would droop their necks and wings told us that if they "become thoroughly in an absurd fashion, taking short runs alarmed by too open approach, particu- and jumps as the waves rolled in upon larly if the setting bird be driven from ubra 149 her nest, there is a great outcry, violent circles a little ways, to return again, with protest and tumult where there was unremitting clamor. They may be only quietude. Other pairs, nesting near by, too easily destroyed under such circum- join their cries till the confusion becomes stances, provided the ornithologist can general. But now, again, their actions lay aside his scruples and steel himself are not those they would show at other against sympathy." times ; for, instead of flying off with the It is to be hoped that all the States, instinct of self-preservation, to put dis- frequented by the Willets, will enact tance between them and danger, they are proper legislation which will amply pro- held by some fascination to the spot, and tect these interesting waders, hover around, wheeling about, flying in Frank M. Woodruff. Autumn once more begins to teach; Sere leaves their annual sermon preach; And with the southward — slipping sun Another stage of life is done. The day is of a paler hue, The night is of a darker blue, Just as it was a year ago; For time runs fast, but grace is slow! Thou comest, autumn, to unlade Thy wealthy freight of summer shade, Still sorrowful as in past years, Yet mild and sunny in thy tears, Ripening and hardening all thy growth Of solid wood, yet nothing loth To waste upon the frolic breeze Thy leaves, like flights of golden bees. — Frederick William Faber. 150 All of my readers probably know in a the nesting season and are therefore general way that Dame Fashion is re- much easier to capture then than at other sponsible for the destruction of the lives times. of many birds, but they may not know to Most of the herons and similar plume- what extent this is true. bearing birds are hunted and killed for Why do we say that any cruel treat- the plumes alone, or, at most, for a very ment of the birds is chargeable to fash- small part of the whole plumage. The ion? It can hardly be necessary to re- part wanted is taken and the rest left to mind ourselves that there is in almost waste, while the bird's body is never used every boy's nature a touch of the savage for anything. If nothing worse, it is an instincts which find expression in the de- unpardonable waste. In Florida alone sire to kill something. Traces of this in- whole rookeries of herons and ibises stinct do not entirely disappear with the numbering hundreds and even thousands development into manhood, but show of individuals have been wholly de- themselves there in the love of hunting stroyed. Now the insatiable plume hunt- and fishing. Let these remnants of sav- er, in his effort to supply the demands of agery be appealed to by the promise of a no less insatiable fashion, is pursuing gain and they are immediately fanned in- the unfortunate birds into the fastnesses to flame in the natures of those persons of Mexico and South America. There is who are naturally more strongly drawn but one way to stop this work of exter- to this primitive occupation of men. In mination, and that is to take away the short, place before the professional hunt- demand. This remedy lies wholly in the er an easy means of profiting by his skill hands of women. Unless they are willing as a hunter, and in far too many instances to take a firm stand against the use of he will smother any humane instincts feathers for purposes of ornament the which he may have for the sake of the birds are doomed. This may seem like a gain. It is the demands of fashion for strong statement, but a little reflection plumes and feathers for hat trimmings will prove it true. When the birds which which place before these hunters the are now hunted for plumes and feathers temptation to kill. Have we not a right, are gone, there will be a modification of therefore, to place the blame at the door the demand to include birds of different of Fashion? plumage, just as the aigrette is giving But what are the practices which we place to the quill. After the quill and the call cruel ? In the first place it is cruelty long-pointed wing will come the shorter to cause the destruction of life without wing, and after that the plumage of the good and sufficient reason. Unneces- small birds, and the cycle of destruction sary sacrifice of life is cruelty. Certain- will be complete. ly no one will say that it is necessary to Some one may ask why it is that the trim hats with feathers. Fashion decrees birds are so foolish as to allow the hunter that feathers must be worn, and presto! to kill hundreds in a single day from one feathers are worn. In the second place, rookery. Why don't they leave the re- it is cruel to kill birds who are feeding gion when the shooting begins? The young ones in the nest, leaving them to plume hunter has learned cunning. He starvation. Yet this is just what has hap- no longer uses a shot gun, but a small pened and does happen every year, caliber rifle or a wholly noiseless air gun. Plume hunters are no respecters of times The rifle makes no more noise than the and seasons. With them there are no snapping of a twig, and will therefore not closed seasons. The birds which they frighten the birds. By remaining con- are after gather in large rookeries during cealed the hunter may kill every bird that 151 is within range. Since each bird is worth more easy to kill, and because then the from twenty-five cents to five dollars, ac- plumage is the most perfect, for then the cording to the kind, a single day's work wedding garments are put on. (or slaughter) is profitable. The temp- It should not be an impossible task to tation is certainly great, and becomes al- stop this whole cruel business. But laws most irresistible to him who loves hunt- will not do it without a wholesome public ing for its own sake. sentiment behind it. Women are nota- The most cruel part of the whole busi- bly foremost in all good works, and many ness I have already stated, but it will bear of them are doing nobly in this work, but repeating. It is the killing of the breed- it is painfully evident that many are not. ing birds before the young are able to Let us make "a long pull and a strong care for themselves. There is abundant pull and a pull all together," and then we evidence that the breeding time is the fa- shall drag this growing evil back and vorite time for hunting among plume down forever. Lynds Jones, hunters, because then the old birds are THE FALL MIGRATIONS. A rush of wings through the darkening night, A swreep through the air in the distant height. Far off we hear them, cry answering cry : 'Tis the voice of the birds as they southward fly. From sea to sea, as if marking the time, Comes the beat of wings from the long, dark line. O strong, steady wing, with your rhythmic beat, Flying from cold to the summertime heat; O, keen, glancing eye, that can see so far, Do you guide your flight by the northern star ? The birds from the North are crossing the moon, And the southland knows they are coming soon. With gladness and freedom and music gone, Another migration is passing on. No long, dark lines o'er the face of the moon ; No dip of wings in the southern lagoon. No sweet, low titter, no welcoming song ; These are birds of silence that sweep along. Lifeless and stiff, with the death mark on it, This "Fall Migration" on hat and bonnet. And the crowd goes by, with so few to care For this march of death of the "fowls of the air." — Mary Drummond, in the Chicago Times-Herald. 152 THE WAYS OF SOME BANTAMS. Last summer, when I was out in the country, I made the acquaintance of a kind-hearted little bantam rooster, who was as funny as he was kind-hearted. An old speckled hen, who looked as if she might be a good mother, but wasn't, had brought up a family of chickens to that stage where their legs had grown long and their down all turned to pin- feathers. Very ugly they were; there was no doubt of it. Perhaps this queer mother thought so". At any rate, she turned the poor things adrift and pecked them cruel ly whenever they came near her. Little "Banty" saw this unkind behav ior. He was small, but his heart was big, and he set Madam Speckle an exam ple which ought to have made her hide her head in the darkest corner of the hen house for shame. He adopted those chickens ! Each one of them was about half the size of "Banty," and to see that loving little father-bird standing on tiptoe with his wings spread, trying in vain to cover all eight of his adopted children, was a pathetic as well as a ludicrous sight. They loved him and believed in him fully. They followed him all day long, and seemed to see nothing amusing when he choked down a crow to cluck over the food he found for them, and at night they quarreled over the privilege of being nearest to him. I think bantams perhaps are more in teresting than other fowls. When I was a little girl father brought three of them home. Dandy and his two little wives were all pure white and very small. We had other fowls, the aristocratic Spanish kind, each as large as two or three of Dandy, and the Spanish rooster hinted very strongly that Dandy's pres ence in that barnyard could be dispensed with. But Dandy was a brave little fight er, and he soon settled it once for all with Grandee as to what the rights of the former and his family were. In a month or so one of the little hens was missing. After a long time we found her, and in such a queer, cozy place ! Up on the foundations of the old red farm house where we lived, rested great squared beams. An end of one of these beams had decayed, out of sight, under the clapboards on the south side of the house, until there was a large, soft-lined hollow. Here the little hen had stolen her nest, and when we found her she was just ready to lead off twenty-one tiny white fluff-balls of chickens, ^every egg having hatched. Dandy's bravery saved his little life one day, and made him forever famous in the annals of our pets. On this most eventful day of his life, a shadow flitted over the barnyard, and a wail went up from us children as a chicken-hawk swooped down upon our beloved Dandy and carried him off before our indignant and tearful eyes. Up they went ! But in a moment or two we saw that the thief was having trouble, as somehow Dandy had managed to turn in those wicked talons, and the little fellow was using his sharp beak and spurs with all his might. The battle was brief, and then Dandy dropped at our feet. He was bleeding and had lost the sight of one of his eyes, but otherwise he was little hurt. All the rest of his days Dandy carried himself proudly, as one who has been tried as a hero and not found wanting. May H. Prentice. 155 THE BUFFLE-HEAD. (Charitonetta albeola.) This small and wonderfully beautiful duck is a native of North America, win tering in the latitude of Cuba and Mexico and breeding from Maine to Montana and northward. It is said that a favorite place for its nesting is along the banks of the Yukon river, and other streams of the boreal regions, yet it is reported that the young have been captured in the Adi rondack mountains. Though classed with the "sea ducks" (Fuligulinae) it is one of the most common of our fresh-water forms, and, like many other animals, as well as vegetable forms, of wide distribu tion, it is the recipient of numerous popu lar names, nearly all of them being more or less suggestive of its characteristics or habits. In the North it is frequently called the Butter-ball, the Butter-box, the Butter duck, the Spirit duck and the Dip per. In the South some of the same names are heard, but perhaps more often the Marionette, the Scotch dipper, or duck, the Scotch teal and the Wool-head. However, no more appropriate name could be selected than that of Buffle- head, having reference to the showy, ruf fled or puffed plumage of the head. The technical name, albeola, meaning whit ish, was given this species by Linnaeus in 1758, on account of the pure white on the side of the head. The adult males vary but little. The plumage of the head is puffy and, with that of the upper half of the neck, is a "rich silky, metallic green, violet purple and greenish bronze, the last prevailing on the lower part of the neck, the green on the anterior part of the head, the pur ple on the cheeks and crown." A beau tiful pure white patch extends from the eyes, meeting on the top of the head. The lower portion of the neck and nearly all the feathers of the under side of the body, as well as the wing coverts, are also showy white. The lining of the wings is dark, and the upper side of the body is black. The head of the female is less puffy and of a brownish or dark gray color. The white head patch is not so prominent or pure and the plumage of the under side of the body is more or less tinged with gray. In both sexes the iris is dark brown, the bill bluish or lead color, and the legs and feet pinkish. There are few birds that are more ex pert in diving or swimming, while on land, owing to their larger feet and shorter legs, they are more awkward and waddle more than many of the ordinary ducks. Their graceful attitude while floating on the water, moving apparently without any motion of the body and scarcely causing a ripple on even a placid surface, has given them the name Spirit duck. The BufHe-head, like nearly all the sea ducks, feeds on mollusks and other animal-forms found in the water. As a result, their flesh is usually coarse and quite too rank for use as a food. The canvas-back is a notable exception, for during the winter months it feeds on the wild celery (Vallisneria) of the Middle Atlantic coast, and thus its flesh receives the flavor so appreciated by those who relish game food. 156 AN HOUR WITH AN ANT. If you want to know how to accom plish a hard task, come with me and watch a little ant for an hour. She was a small, black ant, and, seeing a brown worm eight times as large as her self, she was seized with the ambition to take it home in triumph. Now will you tell me how she knew that she could have no power over the worm while he was on his ten feet, that stuck to the sidewalk like glue? Before she attempted anything, she fastened her mandibles into his side and turned him over on his back just as you see Bridget turn the mattress. Then running to his head she again fastened her mandibles and dragged him for a couple of inches. While pausing to get her breath, the worm took the opportunity to get on his feet once more. The ant did not seem to notice the change in position till she tried again to drag the body. As soon as she felt it sticking, around she ran to the side, over went the worm in a trice, and once more the two started on their jour ney. Now they were close to a crack in the broad sidewalk, and I, thinking to help the little worker, in whom by this time I was quite interested, lifted the worm across the crack. Did you ever try to help some one and find too late you had done exactly the wrong thing ? Then you know how I felt when that little ant began rushing around as if she were crazy, and when she got hold of the worm again, began to drag it back across the very crack I had lifted it over. Can you guess why? She was taking a bee-line to her house, and I had changed the direction. But how was she to get that big body across a crack that could swallow them both? That was what I waited anxiously to see. Soon the worm felt himself going down, down into a dark abyss, and of course caught hold of the side to save himself, and when he once felt he had a hold on life how he did hold on ! The ant was not to be daunted ; balancing herself on the edge, and hold ing on by her feet, she reached down her mandibles and dragged him by main force straight up the perpendicular wall to the top; nor did she stop till he was carried far enough from the edge not to get down again. In this way three cracks were safely crossed, and it was plain to see the worm was losing heart, although every time the ant paused for breath he would get over on his feet and have to be tossed back again. And now a new difficulty arose. The worm had been dragged about eighteen inches over the boards. Fourteen inches more would bring them to the ant's house, or, rather, hill. But the way was now off from the sidewalk, and no soon er did the worm feel the stubble under him than he gathered all his strength, turned over on his feet, and held on to every spear of grass for dear life. Indeed, it was his last chance, and I felt tempted to snatch him from the cer tain death awaiting him, but curiosity to see how this new obstacle would be over come induced me to wait. The ant now felt justified in calling for assistance, and soon a dozen ants had come to help. Only five could work to advantage, so the rest, for ants never like to do the "heavy look ing on," left to find other employment. The first thing to be done was to get the worm on his back, and this proved no easy task. He could fasten his feet just as fast as the ants could unfasten them. At last two ants went to one end and two to the other. Each one of the four seized a foot in her strong mandibles and held it out as far as possible, while the fifth one turned the captive. It was the fun niest sight ! It was easy now to drag him two or three inches, but breath had to be taken, and again the worm fastened. In vain they tugged and pulled. He had 157 evidently learned their tactics and knew aged ; it was only now a question of time how to defend himself. Suddenly his till they had dragged him through the body moved along an inch and a half, as stubble up to the door of the house in the if by magic. Was it magic ? Not at all. hill, and I saw only a faint quiver as of One little ant had run up on an overhang- dread as his body passed through the ing blade of grass, and, reaching down, mysterious opening. I could not help holding on by the wonderful feet spoken wondering if the ant who started the of before, and grabbed the poor creature, capture received all the praise she de- in the middle, raised it right up from the served, or if the other four took the glory ground, and keeping hold, ran along to themselves. overhead till the end of the spear of grass At any rate, no one could take away was reached. her own satisfaction in overcoming and This was the last struggle of any im- winning in the struggle, portance. The worm gave. up discour- Harriet Woodbridge. SONG. Day is dying ! Float, O song, Down the westward river, Requiem chanting to the Day — Day, the mighty Giver. Pierced by shafts of Time he bleeds, Melted rubies sending Through the river and the sky, Earth and heaven blending; All the long-drawn earthly banks Up to cloud-land lifting: Slow7 between them drifts the swan, 'Twixt two heavens drifting. Wings half open, like a flow'r, Inly deeper flushing, Neck and breast as Virgin's pure — Virgin proudly blushing. Day is dying! Float, O swan, Down the ruby river ; Follow, song, in requiem To the mighty Giver. — George Eliot, in the Spanish Gypsy 158 THE AMERICAN EARED GREBE. (Colymbus nigricollis calif ornicus.} The American Eared Grebe belongs to the order of Diving Birds (Podicipedes) and the family of Grebes (Podicipidae). The order also includes the loons and auks, having in all about thirty-six spe cies that frequent North America. Close ly related to the loons, the Grebes differ from them in having the head incom pletely feathered near the nostrils, which are not lobed. The feet also are not com pletely webbed, as are those of the loons. Owing to the inadequately developed wings, the Grebes are poorly provided with means for protracted flight. Loco motion on land is equally difficult, due to their short legs and the fact that they are inserted far back on the body, neces sitating a partially erect position in walk ing. However, they are expert swim mers and divers and will, when alarmed, sink quietly back into the water, swim ming long distances with only the bill above the surface of the water. The pop ular name "Hell-diver," by which these birds are frequently known, has reference to the rapidity with which they dive. The apparent lack of a tail and the ruffs, frequently composed of variously colored feathers, give the grebes a pecu liarly characteristic appearance. The plumage of the breeding season differs greatly from that of the adult in winter and that of the young. The grebes are abundant throughout the world, seemingly preferring lakes and rivers as a foraging ground rather than the seacoast. The American Eared Grebe has an ex tensive range, including that part of North America west of the Mississippi Valley and from the Great Slave Lake south to Guatemala. It breeds in nearly all parts of this territory. A few years since Professor Henshaw published in the American Naturalist some very interesting facts concerning the nesting habits of this bird, and they especially well illustrate some of its characteristics. He says, "In a series of alkali lakes, about thirty miles northward of Fort Garland, Southern Colorado, I found this species common and breed ing. A colony of perhaps a dozen pairs had established themselves in a small pond four or five acres in extent. In the middle of this, in a bed of reeds, were found upwards of a dozen nests. These in each case merely consisted of a slight ly hollowed pile of decaying weeds and rushes, four or five inches in diameter, and scarcely raised above the surface of the water upon which they floated. In a number of instances they were but a few feet distant from the nests of the coot (Fulica Americana) which abounded. Every Grebe's nest discovered contained three eggs, which in most instances were fresh, but in some nests were consider ably advanced. These vary but little in shape, are considerably elongated, one end being slightly more pointed than the other. The color is a faint yellowish or bluish white, usually much stained from contact with the nest. The texture is gen erally quite smooth, in some instances roughened by a chalky deposit. The eggs were wholly concealed from view by a pile of weeds and other vegetable ma terial laid across. That they were thus carefully covered merely for concealment I cannot think, since, in the isolated posi tion in which the nests are usually found, the bird has no enemy against which such precaution would avail. On first ap proaching the locality, the Grebes all con gregated at the further end of the pond, and shortly betook themselves through an opening to the neighboring slough ; nor, so far as I could ascertain, did they again approach the nests during my stay of three days. Is it not, then, possible that they are more or less dependent for the hatching of their eggs upon artifi cial heat induced by the decaying vege table substances of which the nests are wholly composed? The food of the Grebe consists of fish to a great extent, which are dexterously caught while swimming under water. They also feed upon the insects floating upon the surface, and will, when other food is lacking, feed upon mollusks. •ROM COL CMI. ACAO. SCIENCES. AMERICAN EARED GREBE. (Colymbus nigricollis californicus.) V£ Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W MUMFORO, CHICAGO 161 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FISHES. There are known at the present about twenty thousand species of fishes, which are distributed throughout the creeks, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans of the world. A few species of the open sea are cosmopolitan ; the others are more or less restricted in their range. Northern Asia, Europe and North America have in common a few species of fresh water fishes. There are many others of close relationship, which indicates a somewhat common origin of the fish faunas. The same is largely true of the salt water shore fishes, which live well to the north. The fresh water fishes of South America, Africa and Australia are all different from each other, none being even closely re lated as are those we find in the coun tries of the northern hemisphere. The fishes of our Atlantic coast are different from those of the Pacific, very few species being common to both coasts. The fishes of the Ohio river are entirely different from those of the Columbia, not a single species being common to both streams. The fishes of the Missouri river are very different from the Ohio, many of the larger species, as catfishes, buffa lo fishes, black basses, and some of the sun fishes are common to both rivers. The difference between the fishes of these two rivers is chiefly in the smaller kinds, which do not migrate to any great extent, and is greater -as you go toward their sources, or confine yourself to their smaller tributaries. There are many reasons why the fishes of one region are not the same as those we find in another. Some of these rea sons we may learn by making a careful study of the fishes of each region, and their environment. In addition we must learn all we can about the past history of the country, finding which streams were formed first, and how they became in habited from the old ancient fish faunas of our earlier geological periods. If you visit streams in the Alleghanies, the Ozarks and the Black Hills you will find them much alike. All have clear, cool water, flowing over sand or gravel. The black bass, speckled trout, channel cat, and the eastern pickerel will live quite as well in streams of each locality. If you spend a day at each place collecting fishes all your catch will not be the same species. In the Alleghany region you will obtain about forty species, and a like number in the Ozarks. Of these quite one-fourth, or one-fifth, will be the same species, and the others closely related. A large portion will consist of sunfishes and very small, perch-like fishes, which are called darters. These are spiny-rayed fishes ; that is, nearly all of the fins are made partly of strong, sharp spines, such as you find on the back of sunfishes, black bass and the like. In the streams of the Black Hills you will not find more than fifteen species, and not more than one or two, if any, will be the same as in either of the other two catches. There are none of the spiny-rayed fishes in the Black Hills, and no trout, though the streams seem in every way well suited for them. The fishes of the Black Hills con sist of two catfishes, four suckers, eight minnows, and one member of the cod family. Why are there no spiny-rayed fishes? If you examine a map you will find that the Black Hills is an isolated re gion, about seventy-five by one hundred miles in extent. It is covered with heavy pine forests and drained by a dozen or more good-sized creeks, which find, through the north and south forks of the Cheyenne, an outlet into the Missouri river. Surrounding the Black Hills is a broad plain one hundred or two hundred miles in width. It has no forests, and only a scant vegetation. Its streams are alkali and contain much solid matter in suspension. None of these stream's flow over rocky or gravelly beds. Like all the streams of the great plains they are over loaded with sediment. All the streams can do with this sediment is to deposit it in places during falling or low water, and in time of freshets, pick it up, shift it about and redeposit it farther down the stream. Such streams are like the Platte, narrow and deep in a few places, but mostly wide and shallow, with a bottom of quicksand. The streams of the plains 162 have in them but few species of fishes ; es- lakes in central New York was south- pecially is this true of the upper Missouri, ward at the close of the glacial epoch. It and these are such species as we find in is said that in times of high water one the Black Hills. It is thus evident that may pass in a skiff from the head waters the fishes of this region migrated there, of the Mississippi to the Red River of the and only such fishes as were able or will- North. With such facts before us we can ing to live in the muddy, alkaline streams easily understand why the fishes of two of the great plains could have ever rivers whose sources are near each other reached the Black Hills. The minnows should be most nearly alike nearest the and suckers are ever preyed upon by sun- divide. If the two rivers were formed fishes, bass and the like, and to escape about the same time, as no doubt were them evidently sought retreat in the al- the James and the Ohio, they would nat- kaline water, which was too much dislik- urally have several species in common, ed by their enemies for them to follow. In other words, the two fish faunas will Once there and accustomed to such water resemble each other throughout their they would migrate farther up stream un- whole extent. In the case of the Mis- til they reached the clear, cool streams of souri and the Columbia, the former is the Black Hills. If we compare the fishes much the older stream, and while their of two rivers whose mouths are near each sources have fishes common to both other, as the Ohio and the Missouri, those streams, in the lower parts of the rivers fishes found near the mouths will be the the fish faunas are entirely different. The same species and the two river faunas upper Missouri river and its tributaries will differ most as you go toward their are for the most part inhabited by Rocky sources. On the other hand, if you select Mountain fishes, practically the same two rivers whose sources are near each fauna as we find in the Columbia, but few other, as the James and tributaries of the species characteristic of the Mississippi Ohio, then the fish faunas will differ most valley have been able to even cross' the as you go towards their mouths. The great plains and none have ever passed same is true of the Missouri and the Co- the Rocky Mountain divide, lumbia. In such cases it often happens In the study of the geographical distri- that during high water some fishes are bution of our fresh water fishes, we are able to pass from the head waters of one able to make a few generalizations as fol- river basin to the other, just as we see lows: Two rivers in the same latitude, the trout from the Columbia at the pres- and belonging to the same great drainage ent time colonizing the upper Yellow- basin, and draining similar areas, will stone through the Two Ocean Pass, have similar fish faunas. Thus we find a Near the head waters of many mountain great similarity in the fishes of the Wash- streams there is usually a pass, which ita and the Tennessee rivers, a much •contains a strip of meadow land where greater similarity than we do in the fishes the small streams from mountains unite, of the Washita and the Cedar rivers. If forming the sources of two great rivers the stream is a large one, the fishes near flowing in opposite directions. This is its source will be much unlike those near the case both at the Two Ocean Pass, its mouth. The fishes of Minnesota dif- the source of the Missouri and the Co- fer greatly from those of Louisiana, lumbia, and at the point where the Cana- though the drainage of these two States dian Pacific Railroad crosses the^ divide, is in the Mississippi river basin. Lime- forming the source of the Frazier and stone streams have in them more species Saskatchewan rivers. of fishes than do sandstone. All things Many mountain streams whose sources being equal, the larger of two or more are at present in no way connected may streams will contain the most species of have been so at no very remote period, fishes. There are few, if any, rivers as All of our streams which have their rich in species as the Mississippi river sources within the glaciated area were no and its tributaries. It drains one slope doubt connected as the ice receded. The of each of our two great mountain sys- drainage of Lake Champlain and the terns, besides an immense area of wood- 163 land and prairie, and numerous swamps and marshes. Its upper course and many of its upper tributaries lie in the region once covered by glaciers, though now traversed by great morains. Its fishes are as diversified as the area it drains. In its mountain streams we find such fishes as the trout, darters, minnows and suckers. In the upland streams are darters, shin ers, suckers, sunfishes and small-mouth ed black bass. In the channels of the larger tributaries are found the large suckers, buffalo fishes, gar pike, channel catfish, drum, pike and pickerel. The lowland streams contain the dogfish, pi rate perch, some sunfishes, the large- mouthed black bass, some suckers, catfishes and other species. Min nows, darters, suckers and sun- fishes are found in lowland, upland and mountain streams, though not the same species in each. These fishes belong to families which are made up of many spe cies, some being strictly upland, others strictly lowland, each having a limited range. In the same way we have fresh water fishes and salt water fishes ; some fishes, as the trout and salmon and eel, live in both salt and fresh water. Many other fishes, as the killifishes, thrive best in brackish water. Each spe cies of fishes is best fitted for a particular region into which it has been forced to live, either to escape its enemies or to be able to get a living easiest. In its migra tions it has moved along lines of least re sistance, and has colonized those streams where Mother Nature has been able to do the most for it. The darters are small, perch-like fishes, which seldom exceed a length of six inches, the average being about three. All are active and swift swimmers and well suited for a life among the rocks and swift water of our smaller streams. All countries have small, swift, rocky streams, but few have darters. In their stead we find loaches, gobies, characins, sulpins, and the like. These fishes have "become dwarfed and concentrated, taking the place in their respective habitats which the darters oc cupy in the waters of the Mississippi val ley. By the same process of 'analogous variation' the cichlids of South America parallel the sunfishes of the United States, although in structure and in ori gin the two groups are diverse." Dr. Jordan tells us that the trout of the Pacific coast came to America from Asia, and gradually spread eastward and southward until now it is found in all the streams of the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades and the Coast range. It is but a short distance from Kamchatka to Alaska, and this dis tance is traveled by trout to this day; once over, a fish able to spend much of its time in salt water could easily colonize all our coast streams. Whether or not all of our Pacific trout are descendants of one species, the cut-throat trout, is more or less uncertain, though it is quite cer tain that all have descended from not more than two or three species. In many places they have been able to pass from the head waters of one river to that of another, just as they now pass from the head waters of the Columbia to the Mis souri by the way of Two Ocean Pass. The ancient lakes, Lahontan and Bonne- ville, no doubt assisted them in their mi grations. Since these have disappeared each colony has had to remain more or less isolated. In time they have become somewhat changed, to better adapt them selves to their new environment. These changes have developed certain peculiar characters, by means of which we can distinguish one kind of trout from another, just as the farmer distinguishes his Berkshire from his Poland China. Spread, as the trout are, over such a large area, in such an immense variety of streams and lakes, and with a vertical range of over one thousand feet, we would certainly expect as large a number of species and varieties of trout to be de veloped as we find at present in the streams of our west coast. Fishes are found in the deepest parts of the ocean. Some of these are peculiar to the deep waters, none of the shore fishes resembling them. On the other hand, many deep sea fishes belong to families well represented in the shallow water. The flounders are found in water at all depths, and the same is true of the bat fishes, rock fishes and other shore fishes. It is easy to understand how these fishes have found their way to the 164 deep water. It was either to escape their In other words, the fishes of the Sand- enemies or to extend their range for wich Islands are East Indian rather than some reason ; as Mr. Garman puts it, American. This is no doubt caused from "They have slid down," as it were to the the fact that the deep water between the bottom of the ocean. islands of the American coast forms a In general, animals migrating will al- barrier which has always prevented the ways move along lines of least resistance, two fish faunas from mingling with each Some deep-sea fis-hes have a considerable other. Between Africa and the Sand- vertical range. It is thought that some wich Islands this has not been the case, move into shallower water to deposit A recent study of the fishes of the Gala- their eggs or place their young in warm- pagos Archipelago shows its fauna to be er water, and where the peculiar kind of American, though in what respect its food they need early in life is the most fishes differ from those of our west coast abundant. To study deep sea fishes is they resemble all the more the fishes of difficult, and so little has been done that the Sandwich Islands. Two fish faunas we not only know them imperfectly but will usually differ from each other if sep- also know very little concerning their life arated by an impassable barrier ; espe- histories. daily is this true if the barrier be older In February, March and April of 1891 than the two faunas. the United States Fish Commission Any barrier which prevents or hinders steamer Albatross explored a portion of fishes in their movements from one body the region between the coasts of Mexico of water to another will separate two and Central America and the Galapagos more or less well-marked fish faunas. Archipelago. Besides obtaining a large These barriers may be mountains, or number of shore fishes, about nine hun- shallow water, as in the case of deep sea dred specimens of fishes were secured, fishes ; deep water, as in case of shore ranging from a depth of one hundred to fishes ; muddy or alkaline water, or water twenty-two hundred and twenty-three of different temperature. Temperature fathoms. This collection was carefully no doubt has far more influence in gov- studied by Professor Garman, of Har- erning the movement of fishes than is vard. He found the collection to contain generally believed. It plays an import- one hundred and eighty species, eighty- ant part in guiding salmon up stream to five per cent, of which were new to their spawning beds. It explains why science. The bottoms of the oceans are they reach the head waters of some far from level, and each deep basin has streams and spawn earlier than in similar its own peculiar fauna. The shallower streams not far distant, but of different parts of the sea prevent migration of the temperature. If you would know to what deep water forms and no doubt living as extent fishes of one region differ from they do in eternal darkness and in a tern- those of another, study well the barriers perature near the freezing point, there is between the two regions, learn to what little to induce them to much activity, extent and how long they have existed, The fact that they are easily captured in consider the age geologically of the two nets of comparatively small size would regions, and how fishes may have mi- indicate that they move about slowly. grated to one or the other, and in a gen- Dr. Jenkins, who has lately studied the eral way you will have the key to the sit- fishes of the Sandwich Islands, informs uation, which a careful study of the fishes me that less than five per cent, are found is quite sure to verify. on our American coast, while a large per Seth E. Meek, cent, is found all the way to the Red sea. 167 THE LOUISIANA TANAGER. (Piranga ludoviciana.) The family of Tanagers is remarkable for the number of species, the gaudy col oring of many and the interesting fact that they are confined to the Americas and the adjacent islands. Dr. Ridgway says, "that the five families of Neotrop ical birds, which are represented by the greatest number of species, are absolute ly peculiar to America, these families be ing the Tanagers, Tyrant Flycatchers, Wood-hewers, Ant Thrushes and Hum ming-birds. None of these families have even true representatives in any part of the Old World." The family of Tanagers includes ap proximately three hundred and eighty species, of which not more than ten per cent, have a range extending as far north as Southern Mexico, and only four, or at the most five, species are known to the United States. Of these only two. the Scarlet Tanager and the Summer Red- bird, are generally known as far north as Canada. The Tanagers make their home in the trees, and, being of a retiring disposition, are more numerous within the bounds of the forest. During the breeding season they retire still further into the interior. No wonder that they are more numerous in tropical regions, where the luxuriant foliage of the forests furnishes them with a safe retreat, and where there is an abund ance of food suited to their taste. This tendency to avoid the societv of man has made the study of their habits much more difficult, and but little has been record ed except that which pertains to the more northern forms. The food is chiefly insects, especially in the larval form, and berries. To some extent they also feed upon the buds of flowers. Mr. Chapman tells us that "the tropical species are of a roving disposi tion, and wander through the forests in search of certain trees bearing ripe fruit, near which they may always be found in numbers." Their nests are shallow and the eggs, usually three to five in number, are greenish-blue in color, speckled with brown and purple. The Louisiana Tanager is a Western species, ranging from British Columbia on the north to Guatemala on the south, and from the Missouri river to the Pa cific coast. Our illustration well repre sents the male. The female, like its sister tanagers, is plainly colored, but still beau tiful. It is olive green, with the under side yellowish. The feathers of the wings and tail are brown, edged with olive. It resembles the female Scarlet Tanager. The young are at first like the female. Then appears the black of the back, mixed with some olive and a slight tinge of red on the head. It would seem that its name is a mis nomer, as it is not found in the State of Louisiana. 168 CHATTER OF A CHAT. I'm the "Chat." You've heard me if harm than good wherever they're at. My you haven't seen me. But there isn't a wife knits our house among thorns just better lookin' bird in our wood, either, to plague 'em. They hate to get their My olive-green coat is a beauty. My yel- rags torn. Then they'd better keep low satin vest would dazzle your eyes, scarce of our door. If it ain't in black- And my white china spectacles are heir- berry jungles it's in catbrier tangles. I looms in our family. My wife dresses could yarn from sun-up to sundown just as handsome as I do. I'm a prey to 'bout how rag folks come blunderin' high spirits. Some folk call me a "wag." round interfering Barrin' o cat's, they've Don't know what that is, but I don't see got the most meddlesome forefeet I ever the use in bein' doleful. Why, when I saw. But it ain't often they find us. Cause get back from Mexico, I feel obliged to why? We keep still. Our next-door holler. So I just holler. The way old neighbor's Dame Indigo. Can't a body Mother Earth rigs up in the Spring go by she don't pop up scoldin' like a makes me full of life. I get down and house afire. Then they blunder round cool my legs in the deep grass. It brings till they find her nest-eggs, too ! Lots of my appetite back a-whizzin'. My ! if I other feather-heads just like her ! There's don't eat a thousand bugs a day. "Juicy" Topknot Cardnal makes such a fuss any- don't describe 'em. Then I climb a tree- body'd know he's got something to hide, top and holler. If I eat a thousand bugs Sure enough, he's had such lots of kin seems like I have to give two thousand behind the bars it makes him scary. But hollers. I holler straight through a I'd show more pluck, anyhow, moonlight night. You see, I hate to let Once this summer a blunderer smart- old Whippoorwill think he's the only bird er'n common came along by us. We had alive. Mornin' after folks stop talkin' a nice place, too, in a dreadful black- 'bout how bad they slept and say, berry tangle. A small sassafras threw a "What's that?" somebody says, "That's nice shadow over it when the sun got the Chat." Then they always laugh. And hot. Well, I shut up quick, I tell you. I laugh, too — a very Falstaffian laugh, as Was just tellin' Mrs. Chat a few things if I'se shakin' great fat sides out of their while she kep' an eye on our four eggs accordion plaits. Then I give a beautiful like. We kep' still as mice. But didn't whistle. And they say, "Now, what's that blunderin' rags march right up to that?" The fellow I know says, "That's our door and push and scratch till she the Chat." Then I give a surprised whis- saw what we had? Had a little rag blun- tle, just as if you stepped on a tack or derer with her. An' she held her up to took a drink of red-hot coffee. And they look in, too. Every single feather we had say, "And what's that?" And the wise stood on end! It was good riddance man says, "That's the Chat again." when they went along. Couldn't believe Well, says the other fellow, "I'll never my specs when I saw they had left our know that bird." But the bad sleeper eggs alone. Seven suns after, big rags says, "Well, you would if he kept you came back. We're in a peck o' trouble, awake all last night as he did me. He Our four bairns just out the shell. We never knows when to stop." But even both had to scratch round with all our that fellow will never know when I've to^s to feed and keep 'em breathin'. Been said my last word ! rainin' for a solid week. Dame Chat said These rag folks are awful stupids, any- she just knew they'd get a chill and die. how. I call 'em "blunderers." Do more But the blunderin' party didn't stay long. 169 Well, sir, we hadn't got rid of that blunderer yet. The nex' time she brought another, bigger one, along. Both crowd ed up and looked in our door. You never saw such beauties as our bairns that day. Just gettin' so plump and featherin' right along. But it meant a sight o' work for us. They just sat and took in every mouthful we could rake and scrape. They kep' us busy. Well, when these blunderin' rags shook the house the bairns all up and spread their jaws wide open. Rags thought it was awful cute, but I'm thankful they didn't offer to feed 'em anything. Did bad enpugh, anyhow. Big one said, "Why don't you take their picture?" First rags said she couldn't. Second rags said she'd try, anyhow. With that, first rags began to snap off our best defenses — without so much as by your leave. They scratched her good, any how ; for she said so. Well, she put some kind of square black gun right up to our door. Dame Chat went into hysterics and those little Chats just boiled over like a teakettle and went out the nest in four different directions ! The two blun derers went off in a hurry, both talkin' at once and one suckin' her paw. Thankful to say ain't ever seen 'em since. But Dame Chat's a nervous wreck from the fright they gave her ; and I'm worked to skin and bone takin' care of the little Chats. I just wish all the town's fenced in so 's blunderers couldn't get loose to meddle round in their bunglin', elephant, rhinoceros way ! Elizabeth Nunemacher. He comes — he comes — the Frost Spirit comes ! You may trace his footsteps now On the naked woods and the blasted fields, and the brown hill's withered brow. He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth, And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth. -John Greenleaf Whittier. 170 THE LUNA AND POLYPHEMUS MOTHS. The two silk-worm moths which we low. The wing expanse ranges from figure this month both possess a point of three and three-fourths to five and one- excellence far in advance of any other of half inches. our native silk-worm moths ; Luna on ac- During April or May the mother moth count of its graceful form and delicate lays her dark-brown or chocolate-colored colors, and Polyphemus for the silk of eggs upon hickory, walnut, beech, oak, its cocoons. and a few others of our forest trees. The It seems that most persons who speak limited number of food plants is doubt- of the Luna moth (Tropaea luna) feel less one reason for the rarity of the called upon to give a more or less poetic moths, as compared with such a corn- description of it. This, I hope, has been mon and almost omnivorous larva as Ce- rendered unnecessary by the colored cropia. A single moth may lay about plate, so that it will suffice simply to men- one hundred eggs, which are smaller than tion that the beautiful shade of green is those of Polyphemus. These hatch in of very rare occurrence among our larger about ten or fifteen days, the larva mak- moths, and that no other has the long, ing its escape by eating a circular hole in graceful "tails" on the hind wings, a the shell. Occasionally a young larva .characteristic which adds greatly to the may be seen crawling about for a short beauty of this insect. time, carrying upon its head or tail the This moth does not seem to be very empty shell. abundant anywhere, but when once seen The adult larva is about three inches will long be remembered on account of long, of a delicate pale green, a color very its great beauty. The green and yellow difficult to preserve in the dead larva, colors are evidently very closely related, Those on the plate have lost this delicate because either one may, to a greater or green and have become yellow, but show less degree, replace the other, so that the form perfectly. This larva is very some of the moths have quite a strong, much like that of Polyphemus, but may yellowish tinge. One of our common be distinguished from it by possessing a swallow-tail butterflies (Iphiclides ajax) longitudinal pale yellow lateral line, possesses a very similar green color in its which is not found in Polyphemus. Since wings, but does not seem to show this the cocoon is quite thin and contains but tendency to replace the green by yellow, little silk, it is considered of but little On the wings are four eyespots which are value. This cocoon is spun among two or also found in Polyphemus. These are three weaves, and is about two inches remarkable in that they are transparent long. Some authors claim that the cocoon in the center. This clear area in Luna is falls to the ground with the autumnal fall- quite small, while in Polyphemus it is ing of the leaves; others that it trans forms about as large as the entire eye spot of on the ground among the fallen leaves. Luna. The legs are brown and colored The cocoon is quite similar to that of like the front edge of the fore wings. The Polyphemus, but not so firmly attached hairs on the body and at the base of the when fixed to a stem. The moths emerge wing are very long and are white or yel- in April and May, there being only a 173 single brood in the north, while there are larva hatches it weighs about one-twen- two in the south. tieth of a grain ; in ten days it weighs one- Tlie color of the cocoon seems to be in- half of a grain, or ten times its original fluenced in some way by the kind of food weight ; in twenty days it weighs three eaten by the larva. Cocoons made by grains, or sixty times its original weight ; larva which have been fed on hickory when a month old it weighs thirty-one leaves have a darker color. In the true grains, or six hundred and twenty times silk worm moth this same influence has its original weight, and has consumed been noticed; larvae fed upon the vine about ninety grains of food; after fifty producing red cocoons, on lettuce emer- days it weighs two hundred and seven aid green cocoons, while those fed upon grains, or over four thousand times the white nettle produce yellow, green or vio- original weight. At fifty-six days the let cocoons. It is necessary in order to larva has eaten eighty-six thousand times procure these results, that the larvae be its original weight in food ! It is there- fed upon the mulberry till about twenty fore not surprising that these larvae can days before the formation of the cocoon, often be easily detected upon trees by the Polyphemus. The life history of this large number of leaves which they have native silk worm (Telea polyphemus) is devoured. by far the best known, because many To provide for this great change in years ago it was very carefully studied size, the larva moults five times, but the with the hope that it would prove an im- time between these moults is not always portant silk insect. This hope unfortu- the same ; there is usually about ten days nately has not been realized. between the first four moults and about The moths, as shown by the plate, are twenty between the fourth and fifth. The really beautiful ; the large eye spots on larva stops eating a day before the moult, the hind wings contributing much to- spins a few threads upon the leaf to which wards this effect. The transparent, win- it attaches its hind legs, and waits for the dow-like centers in the eye spot are also- transformation, which usually takes- place of quite rare occurrence among our in the afternoon. The larva, when ma- moths. These transparent areas do not ture and ready to spin its cocoon, is about possess the very minute scales found on three inches long. It is sometimes in- the other parts of the wing. Almost all fluenced in its color by the food plant ; of the wonderful variety of colors found the normal larva being of a golden green, in the wings of butterflies and moths are although it has been known to show more due either to coloring matter in these yellow coloring when found on red scales, or to the breaking up of the white maple. light by minute lines on these scales, such A short time before beginning its as are seen in the play of colors on a cocoon the larva ceases to eat and selects soap-bubble. These fine lines on the a place for its cocoon. These cocoons are scales are only on the upper side, and are usually found upon the ground among about one-sixteen-thousandth of an inch the leaves, but are frequently attached to apart. twigs. After about a half day's work the The eggs of Polyphemus are very larva spreads over the inside of the much flattened, about the size of those of cocoon a gummy, resinous substance, Cecropia, and are deposited on leaves and which binds together the threads. After twigs singly or in small groups. These four or five days more of almost contin- liatch in about ten days and usually in the uous work, another coating is smeared morning. The young larva often devours over the inside, which renders the cocoon the shell which a few moments before af- practically air-tight. The silk fibres be- forded it shelter. This larva feeds upon come considerably finer as the cocoon oak, hickory, apple, maple, elm and a va- nears completion and the supply of silk riety of other trees, and thus has a larger begins to run low. For this reason the range of food plants than the Luna larva, inner layers of the cocoon are only about The rate of growth is prodigious, as has half as strong as the outer ones. The "been shown by Mr. Trovelot. When the larva, as the supply of silk diminishes in 174 the silk glands, becomes perceptibly re- which escapes and wets the fore end of duced in size. It has been estimated that the cocoon, causing the resinous material the larva, in attaching the continuous binding together the fibres to become thread of its cocoon, makes two hundred soft. Even cocoons sealed up in shellac and fifty-four thousand back and forward and starch have been dissolved by this movements. The cocoons are very fluid, and thus the moths have been able strong and dense, of a dirty white color to escape. When the cocoon has become and generally coated with a white pow- sufficiently soft, the moth pushes its way der, the female being the larger. between the fibres, but in doing so often There is but a single brood in the breaks some of the threads, thus making north, while in the south there are two. the silk of such cocoons useless for corn- In order to see if the pupa needed air, mercial purposes. The moth at the time Mr. Trovelot sealed up some cocoons of emergence, with its folded and crum- over winter in shellac, but the moths pled wings, is quite a forlong-looking ob- emerged in due time after being in an air- ject. These wilted wings soon begin to tight space for nine months. He also de- fill up with fluids from the body, which layed the emergence of the moth till is very large at this time. In some cases, twenty-one months after entering the the fluid is driven into the wings with so cocoon by placing it upon ice. much force that they swell up, and if such The silk in the spinning glands before a wing is punctured, thus allowing some it is spun is a clear, transparent fluid, of the fluid to escape, the mature wing These glands seem to be of excessive size will be of a smaller size than one from when compared with that of the larva, which no fluid has been lost. It must be since, when fully expanded, they reach remembered that it is possible to inflate a the great length of twenty-five inches, or butterfly or moth's wing, because the about eight times the length of the full- wings of insects are not composed of a grown larva. These glands are paired, single layer, but are sacs of two layers one being found on each side of the body, which are closely applied. It is thus pos- are considerably folded and taper at each sible to split the wing into upper and end. The ducts leading from the anterior lower halves, but this can only be done at end of the glands unite to form a single the time of emergence, when these two duct which opens below the mouth. The layers are not so firmly cemented togeth- thread is double, being really composed er as they are in a few hours after emer- of two different fibres, one from each gence. gland, as may be shown by separating The enemies of Polyphemus are. nu- them. The silk in these glands is pre- merous. Birds prey upon the larvae, in pared and sold as silk "gut" to anglers, addition to numerous parasitic insects On account of its transparency when in which are very similar to those which de- water, it becomes invisible and thus aids stroy Cecropia. The cocoon itself is not in deluding the wary fish, who does not a complete protection because rats and see any connection between the line and squirrels plunder them. We thus see the baited hook. The "gut" is prepared that the life of even an insect is full of as follows : Larvae which are ready to dangers, and that it is really a wonder spin their cocoons are cut open and that so many are able to become mature placed in strong vinegar for eighteen and reproduce. hours ; the glands are then taken out, The silk-worm moths are excellent il- stretched and dried in the shade. lustrations of what is called complete Six or eight days after beginning the metamorphosis in insects. An insect like cocoon, the larval skin is moulted and the the grasshopper, wrhen it hatches from real chrysalic or pupal stage begins. This the egg, is very much like the adult in- stage normally lasts till the following sect in its general form and appearance ; spring or summer. A few days before the most evident difference being the lack the time of emergence a pair of glands of wings. An insect which shows such which open into the mouth become very slight changes in its growth to maturity active and secrete an acidulated fluid is said to have an incomplete metamor- 175 phosis. It is incomplete in the sense that complished during the quiet pupal stage the change is not of a very radical nature, in the cocoon. Because the pupa is ap- But in the case of the silk worm moths, parently passive when viewed from the and moths and butterflies in general, the exterior, one must not conclude that it is larva which hatches from the eggs has so internally; far from it; the digestive not even the most superficial resem- organs of the larva must be completely blance to the adult insect, the fully-devel- made over from those of a chewing leaf oped moth. This necessitates a complete eater to those of a moth which can only change or metamorphosis in the form take liquid food. and structure of the insect before it can Charles Christopher Adams, become mature. This great change is ac- CASTLES IN THE AIR. In a little bend of the San Joaquin early spring days — their last refuge River, where the current, attempting between the cultivation and the deep to straighten its course, has left a bank sea, or rather, river, a few feet wide, there is a small grove In the tops of the cottonwoods live of tall cottonwood trees, perhaps a a number of baronial families in castles dozen in number, whose branches lean huge, gray and ugly, overlooking the far over the stream and whose tops sweep of the stream. They are the reach almost to the level of the bluff Great Blue Herons whose Latin title, or rather the floor of the valley 250 (Ardea herodias), gives one some idea feet above, for this swift river has, in of their ancient lineage. They claim to the course of ages, cut thus deep a be older than the storks of Egypt, and channel for itself. indeed, they look older as they stand The place is not easy of access, for humpbacked and sleepy on one leg by the shore narrows above and below the the side of their nests, the long fringe bend to a few inches where one with of light-speckled neck feathers under- difficulty keeps from crumbling away neath looking like a long gray beard the sand with his feet and falling into sweeping over their recurved neck and the water, and the cliff is so nearly breast. There is a wise look about perpendicular that in many places it is them, too, for the black markings of the inaccessible to a climber, being of soft head sweep back over the eye and pro- sand whose different stratas are clearly long into the appearance of a quill ex- defined where they have been sliced tending behind their ears, off by the cutting stream. Though they are almost four feet The valley above is a vast grainfield long and spread their wings to six feet out almost to the edge of the bluff, and and over, the herons' large blue-grey along the edge and face of the bluff, bodies are often almost indistinguish- wherever root can cling or tendril hold, able from the bark of the cottonwood grow beautiful wild flowers in the branches and the blue of the sky 176 against which they are silhouetted so oddly. One's eyes open with astonish ment when these sticks or excrescen ces of the tree-tops slowly unfold an enormous sweep of sail and, extending their long stilts behind them, flap off across the stream with a creaking sound like the pulleys of a vessel when the halliards are running through them. Standing or flapping they are not handsome birds and one who comes suddenly upon a large heron for the first time as he stands in the shallow water of the brookside, will be con vulsed with laughter, for if there is an utterly clumsy and awkward form or motion in bird-life it belongs to this heron. Their homes are big baskets of nests made of twigs as large as a man's finger, closely intermeshed. From year to year they use the same nest or build over it until it has two or three stories or more and is bigger than a bushel basket. There are probably two dozen nests in the dozen cottonwood trees, some of the larger trees having three or four or even six away up in their tops where the branches seem scarcely strong enough to bear such heavy bur dens. From the top of the bluff one can look down into the nests and in early March see the big blue e^gs, al most as large as hens' eggs, reposing like amethysts in their rough brown setting. Some authors state that not over three eggs are laid, but I have seen four about as often as three and, on one occasion, five in a nest. From their high-placed towers the herons watch the small fry in the river below and make forays among the young trout, pike and catfish and the frogs. They listen to the complaining voices in the twilight and in the morn ing give them cause for still further complainings. They keep in terror the big wood rats whose homes in the clumps of elder berries below surpass in size those of the herons. And the gophers and field mice of the grain fields never know at what moment an ungainly shadow shall fall upon them and end their harvestings. There was a conceited young frog who sang loud and shrill at sunset on the edge of the river and who had an ambition to be, not an ox like the one in the fable, but a Patti. And she had her wish after a fashion, for that connoisseur, the heron who dwelt on the farthest branch over the water, attracted by her vocal abili ties, sought her out, and the little her ons thought her the nicest pate de fois gras they had ever eaten. There they dwell, this ancient race of high-born philosophers, stalking the shallows of sunny baylets, or dreaming in the breeze of the tree-tops of tradi tions old as the sequoias. What an authority would you and I be if we could read the unwritten history of their race! Charles Elmer Jenny. Boughs are daily rifled By the gusty thieves, And the Book of Nature Getteth short of leaves. -Hood, The Seasons. 179 THE PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE. (Antilocapra Americana.} The antelope family comprises many of The Prong-horn ranges throughout the most beautiful and graceful species the western part of North America from among horned animals. When we be- the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, hold the curiously twisted horns of the and from the Saskatchawan river south sasin, the long, sharp horns of the pas- to the Rio Grande. It is not confined to san. the large, spiral horns of the koodoo the plains, but has been found in the wild and the shorter horns of the eland, not to valleys of the Rocky mountains to a mention the graceful bodies and limbs height of over eight thousand feet above of these animals, we are led to wonder at sea level. the extravagance of nature in furnishing The daily life of this interesting animal such a variety of appendages to these is thus described by Canfield, who made creatures. an exhaustive study of them and who By far the larger number of species of also kept them in captivity : "From the this family live in Africa and Asia, where first of September to the first of March they have reached the highest develop- one always sees them in larger groups ment of structure. They are not, like composed of bucks, does and yearlings, some families of mammals, confined to Shortly afterward the does individually any one particular locality, but are retire from these herds and give birth found on the plains and high up on the to their young. After a short interval mountains ; in a country sparsely covered they again unite with other suckling does with vegetation and in the thick forests ; and their little calves, possibly with a view in marshes and bogs. In fact, they seem to common defense against the wolf and to inhabit all varieties of country. While coyotes. The adult bucks roam about the family is thus diversified in habitat, singly or two together, leaving the moth- the different species are by no means so ers with their latest progeny to their fate, widely distributed, for while some spe- the young Prong-horns in the meantime cies, like the sasin, live only on the open gathering in groups of their own apart plains, others, like the chamois, live high from the older animals. Apparently tired up on the mountains, frequently above of the world and bored by society the old the snow-line. bucks wander about for one or two The subject of our sketch, the .Prong- months, frequenting localities in which horned antelope (Antilocapra america- they are not ordinarily seen. Two or na), is not as large nor so strikingly three months subsequently the adoles- horned as the other animals which have cent bucks again join the old does and been mentioned. In fact, so different is their calves, and finally the old bucks,also its structure, having hollow, pronged put in an appearance, so that one can ob- horns which do not increase by contin- serve herds, numbering hundreds, or uous growth, as do those of the true an- sometimes even thousands, after the first telopes, but are shed like those of the deer of September. A herd never leaves its family, and having a somewhat different native locality or roams over more than a structure of feet and different texture of few miles of range. In dry summer hair, that a family has been made for it weather they seek water and go to drink known as Antilocapridae. regularly once a day or twice in three 180 days ; but if the grass is fresh and green, grass away up the Porcupine, that as is the case during the greater part of seemed to be moving. We rode toward the year, the Prong-horns do not drink them at a lively trot for perhaps a mile, at all." and then stopped to reconnoitre again. The food of the antelope consists to a From this point we could plainly distin- great extent of the short, succulent herb- guish them, though they looked to be age of the prairie, of moss, and also, to a about the size of jack rabbits. We again limited extent, of the young and tender put the rowels to our donkeys and rode branches of trees. Like many other rumi- rapidly up to within about a mile of them, nants, this animal is passionately fond of when we picketed our animals in a low salt and they will remain about saline de- swale, took out our antelope flag — a piece posits for many hours, satisfying them- of scarlet calico about half a yard square selves by licking the salty ground. —attached it to the end of my wiping The antelope is the swiftest runner of stick, and were ready to interview the an- any animal in North America, though telopes. perhaps less agile and speedy than some "I crawled to the top of a ridge within of its relatiVes in the old world. It has plain view of the game, and planted my been said by competent observers that so flag. The breeze spread it out, kept it swiftly do they run that it is absolutely fluttering, and it soon attracted their at- impossible to distinguish their limbs. tention. They were then near the bank The senses of the antelope are unus- of the river, grazing quietly, but this bit ually developed. Their sight is exceed- of colored rag excited their curiosity to ingly keen and their hearing very acute, a degree that rendered them restive, anx- Their sense of smell is so well developed ious, uneasy, and they seemed at once to that no danger can possibly approach be seized with an insatiable desire to find from the windward side. When a herd is out what it was. An antelope has as feeding, sentinels are placed on the out- much curiosity as a woman, and when skirts to "scent any impending danger, they see any object that they don't quite and to give due warning to the herd, understand, they will travel miles and run Their curiosity is one of their most pecu- themselves into all kinds of danger to liar qualities and seems to overshadow find out what it is. They have been every other sense. known to follow an emigrant or freight For a number of years this graceful wagon with a white cover several miles, animal has been considered royal game and an Indian brings them within reach for the sportsman and a good round-up of his arrow by standing in plain view of antelopes is considered a great achieve- wrapped in his red blanket. Some hunt- ment among hunters. Mr. G. O. Shields, ers "flag" them by lying down on their in his interesting book, "Hunting in the back, holding one foot as high as possi- Great West," very ^vividly describes a ble, and swinging it to and fro. Apiece hunt for antelopes, and we cannot better of bright tin or a mirror answers the illustrate the peculiarities of the animal same purpose on a clear day. Almost than by giving his pen sketch : any conspicuous or strange-looking ob- "We had heard from some ranchmen ject will attract them, but the most con- along the way that the buffalo herd was venient, as well as the most reliable at at this time grazing about fifteen to twen- all times, is the^ little red flag, such as we ty miles up the Big Porcupine, and know- employed in this instance, ing. that antelopes are nearly always "Huffman went to the top of another found hanging on the outskirts of every ridge, to my right and some distance in large herd of bison, we were on the look- advance, and Jack crawled into a hollow out for them, for it would not seem at all on the left, and well in advance, we three strange to find them near the stage trail forming a half circle, into which it was on which we were traveling. We scanned our intention if possible to decoy the the country closely with the field glass game. When they first discovered our and were finally rewarded by seeing a flag they moved rapidly toward it, some- number of small white spots on the dead times breaking into a trot, but when they 181 had covered half the distance between us itors at almost the same instant, and for and their starting point, they began to about two or three minutes thereafter we grow suspicious and stopped. They cir- fanned them about as vigorously as ever cled around, turned back, walked a few a herd got fanned under similar circum- steps, and then paused and looked back stances. The air was full of leaden mis- at the, to them, mysterious apparition, siles ; the dry dust raised under and But they could not resist its magic influ- around the fleeing herd as it does when ence. Again they turned and came to- a team trots over a dusty road. Clouds ward it, stopped, and gazed curiously at of smoke hung over us, and the distant it. The old buck who led the herd hills echoed the music of our artillery stamped impatiently, as if annoyed at be- until the last white rump disappeared in ing unable to solve the mystery. Then the cottonwoods on the river bank, they walked cautiously toward us again, "When the smoke of battle cleared down an incline into a valley, which took away, and we looked over the field, we them out of our sight, and out of sight found that we had not burned our pow- of the flag. This of course rendered der in vain. Five of the little fellows, the them still more impatient, and when they two bucks and three does, had fallen vie- again came in sight on the next ridge, tims to their curiosity. The two fawns they were running. But as soon as their had, strangely enough, escaped, probably leader caught sight of the flag, he only because they, so much smaller than stopped, as did the others in their turn their parents, were less exposed." when they reached the top of the ridge. The antelope have a curious way of There were seven in the herd, two bucks, protecting their young, when on the open three does and two fawns. They were prairie. This is accomplished by placing now not more than a hundred yards from a ring of sharp-pointed cacti about a spot me, and still less from the other two of 'which has been beaten smooth by their our party. Their position was every- hoofs. Inside this ample protection the thing we could wish, and though we animal cares for its young and secures in- might possibly have brought them a few gress and egress for itself by jumping yards nearer, there was a possibility of over the ring of cacti. This serves to pro- their scenting us, even across the wind, tect them from the majority of their foes, which, of course, we had arranged to which inhabit the open country, have in our favor, and I decided that The antelope does not thrive well in rather than run the risk of this and the captivity, the older ones soon killing consequent stampede, I would shoot themselves in their attempts to escape, while I had a good chance. It had been The young taken soon after their birth arranged that I was to open the ball, so I generally die early, unless very special drew my peep and globe sights down care is bestowed upon them, and even if very finely, taking the white breast of the they survive the juvenile state, they are old buck for my bull's-eye, and pulled, very likely to die when three or four Huffman's Kennedy and Jack's carbine months old, from pyaemic sores or in- paid their compliments to the pretty vis- flammation of the limbs. 182 PLANT PROTECTION. In the last number of this journal it was shown how plants seek to avoid the visits of unsuitable insects to their flow ers. This is one means of protection, but there are many others which are even more striking and vital. It is supposed by many that plants are helpless beings, which must submit to all sorts of unfa vorable conditions which come upon them. This is far from true, for while plants as a rule are fixed and unable to escape from danger by flight, still they have very many ways of helping them selves. Prominent among the dangers which come to active green plants are those- which arise from too intense light, which may destroy the delicate working sub stances. Since the leaves are the great working organs in the manufacture of food, they are especially equipped for protection. Those leaves which must work in exposed places have many de tails of structure which are evidently for guarding them against the ill effects of too intense light. The most striking adaptations, however, are those which have to do with protective positions. Un der ordinary circumstances leaves are placed so that their flat faces are exposed to the most intense light. In some cases this is so great a danger that the leaves are set edgewise, the edges being direct ed upwards and downwards. When a plant assumes this habit, the leaves are said to be in a profile position, and the plants are sometimes called "compass plants." The latter name has come from the fact that such leaves usually point north or south, and once it was assumed that this position was in response to some mysterious magnetic influence. It is found, however, that it is merely an ef fort on the part of the plant to protect its leaves from the intense light of midday, and at the same time to expose them to the morning and evening rays of much less intensity. If a leaf is to be placed with its edge upwards and its flat faces east and west, it follows of necessity that it will point either north or south. Some leaves, however, have the power of shifting their position according to their needs, directing their flat surfaces toward the light, or more or less inclining them according to the danger. Perhaps the most completely adapted leaves of this kind are those of the "sensitive plants," whose leaves respond to various external influences by changing their po sitions. The sensitive plants abound in dry and hot regions, and one of the best known is represented in our illustration. It will be noticed that the leaves of this Mimosa are divided into very numerous small leaflets, which stretch in pairs along the leaf branches. When the time of in tense light and dryness approaches some of the pairs of leaflets fold together, slightly reducing the surface exposure. As the unfavorable condition continues, more leaflets fold together, then still others, until finally all the leaflets may be folded together, and the leaves them selves may bend against the stem. It is like a sailing vessel gradually taking in sail as a storm approaches, until finally nothing is exposed, and the vessel weath ers the storm by presenting only bare poles. These are but a few illustrations of the very numerous devices for escap ing too intense light and the dangers which accompany it. One common danger in temperate re gions comes from the lowering of the temperature each night, which sometimes may chill the living substances to the danger point. This is particularly dan gerous to seedlings, whose tender struc tures have not yet developed the ordi- 185 nary protective coats. In the spring the erything above the surface of the ground seed leaves of numerous seedlings may dies, while the plant continues in the be seen at the approach of night to rise form of underground bulbs, tubers, or upward and come together, just as the various thickened structures. This hab- palms of the hand may be placed together it of seeking a subterranean retreat at over one's head. This reduces the sur- the approach of some dangerous sea- face of exposure and the danger of chill son is a very good one, and is found in at least one-half. Darwin experimented many of our early spring plants. This upon these seedlings, and discovered that subterranean habit has a great advantage by preventing some of the seed leaves over the annual habit, since a seed is very from moving, the seedlings were serious- slow in bringing the plant back again, ly injured. The leaves of very many while a bulb can produce its plant very plants assume a peculiar night position rapidly. which tends to meet the danger of loss of Still other plants preserve more of heat. Often the three leaflets of the com- . their structures than either the annuals mon clover, if growing in an exposed Or the ground-loving plants. For exam- place, may be observed to fold together pl€j most of our trees have cultivated into a sort of tent-like arrangement. what is known as the deciduous habit, Many plants are also observed to pro- that is, they merely drop their leaves, tect themselves against rain, as it is nee- which are the endangered structures, at essary for leaves to avoid becoming wet. the approach of the unfavorable season, If the water is allowed to soak in, the and renew them again when the favorable work of the leaves is at once interfered conditions return. It should be remark- with. Hence it will be noticed that most ed that these leaves do not fall because leaves are able to shed water, partly by they are broken off, but that in a certain their position, partly by their structure, sense it is a process of growing off, which In many plants the leaves are so arranged is carefully prepared for. One of the that the water runs off toward the stem ; most prominent features associated with in other plants the rain is shed outwards the deciduous habit is the autumnal col as from the eaves of a house. Some of the oration. The vivid colors which appear structures which prevent the rain from m the leaves of many trees just before the soaking in are a smooth epidermis, lay- time of falling have attracted a great deal ers of cuticle, hairy coverings, etc. In- of attention, but although it is so promi- teresting experiments may be performed nent, the causes for it are very obscure, with different leaves to test their power it will be noticed that this autumnal col- of shedding water. If a gentle spray be oration consists in the development of allowed to play upon different plants it various shades of two typical colors, yel- will be observed that the water glances iOw and red. It is known that the yellow off at once from the surfaces of some js due to the breaking down of the green leaves, runs off more slightly from oth- substances, so that it simply indicates a ers, and may be more or less retained by pOst mortem change, as may be noticed others. m connection with the blanching of cel- Perhaps the most general preparation ery in which the leaves and upper part of for protection in our region is that which the stem may be green, the green may is made for the coming of the winter's shade gradually into yellow, and finally cold. In many cases plants do not at- into the pure white of complete blanch- tempt to protect their delicate structures ing. The red coloring matter, however, from the severity of winter, but disap- is very different. Certain experiments pear entirely, leaving only well-protected upon plant colors have indicated that the seeds to carry them ove~r into the next presence of the red slightly increases the growing season. This results in the so- temperature by absorbing more heat. It called "annual habit," which has been is suggested that th and our darling children eaten by the worst, darlings," she said, reassuringly, cruel dog that sits by them, watching in- When Mr. Field Mouse returned he 204 looked discontentedly over the supper ta- curling up in the softest part of the nest, ble where his family were contentedly and covering his nose with his paws was nibbling at an ear of nice yellow corn, soon snoring heavily. "Nothing but corn for supper," he grum- "I think this is the shock, Sam. I am kled. sure I heard a mouse squeal when I went Mrs. Field Mouse resolutely kept her by this morning. Now, Fido !" temper and went on placidly eating. There was a great rattling of stalks, a "Well, have you decideded to move?" she sharp bark, a rush and Fido licked his asked, pleasantly. "I have discovered a chops and nosed about the place where barrel of broomcorn seed setting up in Mr. Field Mouse had been contentedly the granary that will make a snug home snoozing but a few moments before, but for the winter. No one will be likely to he did not find any more dainty tidbits, disturb us, and on the whole I think it for Mrs. Field Mouse and her children will be a desirable change," she said. were safely skurrying away over the stub- "II is too far away from the pile of ble in the direction of the granary. sugar cane to suit me, I fear," he said, Mary Morrison. THE FULVOUS TREE-DUCK. ( Hendrocyng a fulva . ) The Tree Ducks are natives of tropical we had prepared for collecting, we would or semi-tropical countries. Two species flush immense flocks of this duck, which are found in the United States, the bird would fly over our heads at rather a low of our illustration and the Black-bellied altitude and continuously calling. On Tree-duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis). several occasions we obtained specimens The range of the fulvous species extends by firing into a flock while it was still so from the southern border of the United dark that we could scarcely define the States, and in Nevada and California, outlines of the individual birds. The Ful- southward through Mexico, and reap- vous Tree-Duck generally feeds in the pears in the southern portion of Brazil night and usually at a place several miles and in the Argentine Republic. It has from the nesting site. They leave the also been reported as a visitor to the feeding grounds on the first sign of ap- states of North Carolina and Missouri, preaching day. During my stay of three Mr. Frank M. Woodruff, in speaking months in the Brazos river region only of his experience while on a collecting on one or two occasions did I have an op- tour in Texas, says-, "I found the Fulvous portunity to observe this bird by the light Tree-Duck in small numbers resident on of day. In form it resembles a miniature Galveston Island, but found them abund- swan. It stands very high on its legs ant and nesting in the heavy timber along and presents a wonderfully curious and the Brazos river, sixty miles from Calves- graceful appearance as it walks along the ton. In the early morning, as we would shore feeding on shellfish and decaying leave our boat and make our way to our matter." blinds, on some small inland pond where V FULVOUS TREE-DUCK. (Dendrocygna fulva ) COPYRIGHT 1900. BY A. W MUMFORO, CHICAGO 207 HOW THE SWIFTS CAME TO BUILD IN AUNT DORO THY'S CHIMNEY. Once upon a time there was a family of us tell him about the lovely place where Humming Birds who always spent the . we spent last summer, winter in Mexico. In this family, besides Little Coquette Humming Bird sat the father and mother, there was a grand- watching her brother Helenae — what a father and grandmother, and also a great- queer name for a boy Humming Bird, grandfather an-d great-grandmother, and you think — but probably his parents gave ever so many children. It was the cus- it to him because he was always prinking torn of the Humming Bird family to and preening his feathers. "Just like a spend Christmas day together, and they girl,'' his brothers said. But however assembled early in the morning in a beau- much Coquette might preen her feathers, tiful live oak tree, the leaves of which she never looked as beautiful as her were so much like holly leaves that brother Helenae, and that was what she no Christmas wreaths were needed. The was thinking about as she watched him. tree was a handsome one and suitable in He carefully arranged the three long, every way for a Christmas Humming slender, greenish-black feathers which Bird party. At last every one had come grew on either side of his head, and the except young Master Topaza Humming metallic green feathers of his throat were Bird, who could not resist the temptation so glistening and bright that little Co- of flying from place to place along the quette imagined she could see herself in way, thrusting his long bill, of which he them as she could in a little spring where was very proud, into the beautiful bios- she often went for a drink. After Helenae soms which he found, and taking a little had finished his toilet he moved his wings sip of honey from each one. Great-grand- very rapidly a few times, and raised him- father Humming Bird missed Master To- self up as high as he could on his feet paza and called to his little brother Iris without taking them off the limb on which to go and find him and bring him imme- he sat, then he settled down, closing his diately to the oak tree. Iris promptly eyes for a moment. Just then Coquette obeyed and soon returned with his broth- cried out : "The Swifts are coming ! Look, er. Then great-grandfather, who always no one else could fly so fast ! There they was given first place on such occasions, are near those old mahogany trees on the fluttered his wings and said : "Dear chil- bank of the river." There was a grand dren, were our cousins, the Swifts, invited rustle of preparation that everything to take part with us in our concert this might be in order and every one look his afternoon ?" best when the cousins arrived. In a few "Oh, yes," said Mamma Humming moments mamma Swift and her daugh- Bird, "I met papa Swift one day while I ter Cyprelus came, alighting on the same was getting honey from the beautiful red branch together. Then there was a whir blossoms of a shrub which grows in the of wings that sounded like the wind flap- southern end of this valley. I invited him ping the sails on a sail-boat, and there to come to-day and bring all his family, was an excited chirping of welcomes and and he said he would, and also that he "Merry Christmas" on both sides, would come early, for he wished to have Grandfather Humming Bird was a 208 good story-teller, and his wife, who was the dearest old lady Humming Bird in the world, had often advised him to write a book of his travels on the leaves of the lovely rose-laurel bush, but Grandfather Humming Bird told her that writing books of travel was too humdrum for a Humming Bird ; that such work was only for that queer creature called man. Sev eral Humming Birds then said that they felt very friendly toward man, because he loved flowers and took such pains to plant them every spring. And the Swifts, with one accord, said they were much indebted to man for his chimneys, for they made the best building places possible. "Be fore the white man came to this country," said grandfather Swift, "our ancestors had to build their nests in old hollow trees." "The red man was an admirer of ours," said uncle Tarsi Swift, who was an old bachelor and a little cross some times. "I could get along very well with out the white man and his chimneys. He has driven the red man away, and cut down the grand old forests. When I was a child nothing pleased me better than to see an Indian chief, with his high moc casins trimmed with feathers. I know he trimmed them that way to make his legs look like ours." "But he could not make his feet look like yours if he tried," spoke up a pert young Humming Bird, who, with a group of others, was looking and listening in a quiet corner, and he glanced down at uncle Tarsi Swift's first toe, which was turned forwards and he counted the phalanges in uncle Tarsi's toes and compared them with his own. Three of Uncle Tarsi's toes were alike, but all of the pert Humming Bird's were different. "No," said several Swifts in chorus, "only the penguins and cormorants have toes like ours, and they are birds we sel dom meet. We are glad there are so few feet exactly like ours. We can tell each other everywhere by our feet and our ten tail feathers. "I knew a swallow once who had lost two tail feathers," said one of the Swift cousins, "and he tried to pass himself off as a Swift. But he could not change his feet and so he deceived nobody. "Well, as for me," said the pert Hum ming Bird, "I would rather have feet that were not so peculiar as to attract every body's attention." "Indeed," said cousin Swift, "and what do you think of having a bill three or four times as long as any of your neighbors?" "At least my bill does not open away under my eyes like yours does, cousin Swift !" Grandmamma Humming Bird knew very well that the Humming Bird family was thought to be quarrelsome by al most every one, and was very much mor tified by hearing this conversation. "Chil dren," she said, "you know it is not right to hurt people's feelings by talking about their peculiarities, and I hope none of my dear little Humming Birds will offend their Christmas guests." After this there was no more cross talk in the pert Hum ming Bird's corner, for all loved grand mother Humming Bird and tried to do as she wished to have them. There was a sudden lull in the conver sation and great-grandfather Humming Bird asked grandfather Humming Bird to describe the place where his family had spent the summer just passed. "It was a lovely place near a lake in Southern Wis consin," said he. "Many honeysuckle and dogwood bushes grew there, and wild rose bushes, and wild grape vines, and clematis, and large purple vetches. Grandmother and I built our nest in a grapevine angle, and often in the warm summer evenings the wind would rock our babies to sleep. There was a place not far away, which I know you would find a pleasant home for next summer. It is up on a hill, not far from the lake. There is a house there with one chimney from which the smoke never comes all summer long. In the big yard there are beautiful trees and fragrant flowering shrubs and beds filled with flowers. A lady lives there who is loved by all the birds, for she never frightens them, and every day she feeds them and talks to them. 5 they build nests in her trees and sing "This ; , in a beautiful shady place, near nga thicket, she made a house ou g1 box for a mother hen who had ittle downy chicks, and every da^ he fed the chickens she left enou 1 so that the birds could 209 have some, too. And all, even the little lady and she was smiling pleasantly and yellow canaries, used to help themselves, watching me." This did not please the old mother hen When grandfather Humming Bird had very well, and if she could have gotten said all this, he flew away to another out of her box-house, I think she would branch of the oak tree and moved his have chased the birds away. One day a wings so fast that one could not see how bold blackbird walked into her house to he did it. Papa Swift thanked him for the get some grains of corn, when he thought pleasure he had given by his stories of his she was not looking. But before he could last summer's home, and it was finally get out. again she pulled three feathers agreed that the Swifts and Humming out of his tail and laid them down, as a Birds should start together for the north warning, where all the other birds could in the spring. see them. I heard the lady afterwards The young birds of both families were telling the mother hen that she must not anxious for the concert to begin. Papa be so selfish, and the next time she fed the Swift, who was considered the best singer chickens she put several handfuls of corn by everybody, flew to the very top of the where the blackbirds could get it, without oak tree and began his prettiest song. It having their tail-feathers pulled out. I was not long before several Swifts and have seen the lady put pieces of string Humming Birds had joined him. They and bits of soft cotton cloth and old rope all sang and flew from branch to branch, where the birds could get them, to help A bird concert is not like one given by make their nests. And I saw her feed- children. The children all sing the same ing a little orphan owl with angle worms, song and sing it together, but in a bird The little owl was very fond of her and concert everyone sings to please himself, sat on her fingers and twisted his neck He begins just when he feels like it, and and winked his great eyes. Whenever sings his own song. But for all that, a he heard her talking he gave a queer little bird concert is very pretty music. Some screech, for he knew her voice. He was a proud birds, who were spending the af- great eater and he expected her to give ternoon near by, and who had better him something to eat every time she went voices than the ones in the oak tree, pre- where he was. One day that lady was sit- tended that they did not like such a ting on her porch listening to the birds "noise," as they called it, and flew away singing. At one end of the porch was a across the river. But this did not keep large lilac bush in full bloom, and I was the Swifts and Humming Birds from en- enjoying myself among the blossoms, joying themselves. Once in a while I would fly to a flower Before the time for good-byes came they bed not far from the opposite end of the promised to see each other often, and ev- porch, where there was a big bunch of eryone promised to be ready to go away belladonna with its lovely blue and mauve in the spring. Little Cyprelus dreamed blossoms. The lady seemed to like lilacs that night of the pleasant times she would best, for she had fastened a large bunch have the next summer in the pretty place in her belt, and sat with her hands folded grandfather Humming Bird had told in her lap, dreaming a day dream, I sup- about, and Coquette and Topaza said they pose. wondered if the lady who lived by the Once, on my way from the flower-bed beautiful lake would have as many flow- to the lilac bush, I flew up to the bunch of er-beds this summer as she had last, blossoms which the lady had in her belt. Now this lady, whom grandfather You know I am seldom afraid of anything Humming Bird had been telling about, and I knew the dear lady would not harm was Aunt Dorothy. She was a great bird me. But she seemed very much sur- lover, and it made her happy to find that prised when I stopped at her bunch of she could number the Swifts among her blossoms. 'O-o-h!' she said, but very particular bird friends when they came softly, and unclasped her hands in her the next summer to live in her yard, surprise. I flew away quickly to the lilac One morning Aunt Dorothy waked up bush, and after a while I looked at the very early. She looked out of her eastern 210 window and saw that the sky beyond the lake was a beautiful rose color, but the sun was not yet risen. Aunt Dorothy was sleepy, so she closed her eyes again, but just as she did so she heard a strange twittering noise and wondered where it came from. Her curiosity was so great that she could not go to sleep again, so she rose and dressed herself and, after saying a little prayer to the great All- Father to keep her through the day, she went to find out what the noise was. But she had already thought that it must be birds in the chimney. She climbed up on a chair and listened near the chimney hole. Soon she heard a fluttering of wings and a chirping. Mamma Swift was coming with some worms for her babies' breakfast. Her babies, like a great many girl and boy babies, waked up very early in the morning and were quite troublesome. In order to quiet them, Mamma Swift was forced to find some worms before sunrise. Aunt Doro thy was delighted. If she made a little noise near the chimney hole the baby birds thought it was their mother coming with food for them, and they stretched their heads up out of the nest, so Aunt Dorothy could see them-. Often, when she was writing or reading in her room she could hear the birds in the chimney. She knew the papa and mamma bird had to work very hard, for they came many, many times a day with food for the baby Swifts. But there came a day when the nest in the chimney was empty, for the lit tle birds had gone away with their par ents and were learning to fly through the trees and to catch insects to eat. It made Aunt Dorothy lonesome to sit in her room after that, and instead she used to go out of doors where she could watch the birds. One day she took a fire-shovel and with it managed to loosen the nest and take it out of the chimney without break ing it. The shape of it was like half of a deep saucer, and it was made principally of the petioles or stems of grapevine leaves laid across each other as the logs are in building log houses. The big ends of the leaf stems alternated with the small ones and stuck out, making a bristling outside wall for the nest. There were two or three very slender cedar twigs no bigger than a darning-needle used in making the nest, and these the birds had brought from a long distance. The nest looked as if it had been covered with glue, and this was because the birds had cov ered it with their saliva and that held the leaf stems together just as glue would. Aunt Dorothy knew a man who went to some islands in the Pacific ocean, where the Pigmy Swifts live. Pigmy means lit tle, and these Swifts are smaller than the ones who built in Aunt Dorothy's chim ney. The Pigmy Swifts build their nests in caves. Some of them build very far in the caves, where it is entirely dark. Aunt Dorothy's friend went one day with an other man to a cave to get some bird's nests. These men had a ladder made of rattan, on which they had to climb in order to reach the nests. The man who climbed highest had a long four-pronged spear, with a lighted candle fixed on it a few inches below the prongs. By the aid of the light he found some nests. With the spear he took them unbroken from the rock. When he had gotten a nest be- • tween the prongs of the spear, he held it so the man lower down on the ladder could reach the end of it, and let it down through his hands until he could take the bird's nest from between the prongs of the spear and put it in his pocket. When Aunt Dorothy's friend came back to America he brought some of these bird's nests with him and gave one to hpr. The Chinese people think these bird's nests are very good to eat, and make soup of them. Aunt Dorothy put the nest, which she had taken from the chimney r into her cabinet with the one from the island in the Pacific ocean. One day in the fall she took some of her little friends for a walk and they picked up a basketful of leaf stems under the elm and linden trees, and with them they made some bird's nests which they covered with glue and which looked very much like the one Aunt Dorothy found in her chimney. 'Mary Grant O'Sheridan. RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER. 213 THE RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER. (Sphyrapicus ruder.) The Red-breasted Sapsucker is a resi- difficult to work when partly decayed, dent of the Pacific Coast, ranging from which seems to be the case with nearly all northern Lower California northward to aspens of any size." The larger chips are Southern Alaska. It extends its flight dropped from the nest and their presence and breeds as far east as the Sierra Ne- on the ground at the base of the tree is vada and Cascade Mountains. It belongs quite a sure indication of the proximity to the family of Woodpeckers (Picidae). of the nest of this or some related species. The generic name, Sphyrapicus, is taken The period of incubation probably lasts from two Greek words that refer to the twelve or more days, and its labors seem habits of these birds — sphura, a hammer to be shared by both sexes. During this and pikos, a woodpecker. The specific period, if the birds are disturbed by a name, ruber, means red. close approach to their nest, they fly away Like its eastern relative, the Yellow- for a short distance uttering sounds of a bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), it soft, plaintive character, that are variable punctures trees possibly in order to feed and difficult of description. These Sap- upon the exuding sap or the insects at- suckers are watchful and devoted parents tracted by its flow, yet this bird does not and cases have been reported where the develop this habit to so great an extent mother bird has been easily captured be- as the eastern species, for it will com- cause of her refusal to leave her young, pletely girdle a tree with punctures, which As a rule, but a single brood is raised at times will cause its death. A direct each season. There are five or six eggs evidence of this is found in the fact that in and occasionally seven in each set, which localities where the Red-breasted Sap- vary in form though they are always of sucker is abundant indications of their the ovate type. At times they are quite work are not usually common. The adult elongated. When fresh, the yolk may be birds are beautifully marked with crim- seen through the thin shell, giving a son on the head and breast, while in the pinkish shade to the egg. When the con- young the color is brownish and the yel- tents are removed the shell is white, low of the belly is wanting. showing some lustre. These birds seem to prefer aspen trees The food of this species, in addition to for their homes, selecting one which is a the sap and inner bark of the trees they foot or more in diameter near the puncture, if it is true that they use this ground. They excavate a cavity in the as food, consists of ants, insect larvae, trunk several feet from the ground, the moths and butterflies, many of which are door of which, a small round hole, less caught on the wing, and small fruits, than two inches in diameter, seems far Like all the Sapsuckers and the other too small for the parent birds to enter, woodpeckers, the sense of hearing is well 'The gourd-shaped excavation varies in developed and it is usually very difficult depth from six to ten inches, and it is to approach them without detection, from three inches near the top to four or A sister species of the Sapsucker of our five inches wide at the bottom. The finer illustration is the beautiful Williamson's chips are allowed to remain in the bot- Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus), an torn, forming the nest proper, on which inhabitant of the Pacific cos. -it. This bird the eggs are deposited. The interior of differs from all of the woodpeckers in' that the entire excavation is most carefully the two sexes show a great difference in smoothed off, which must consume con- coloration. So marked is this difference siderable time, considering the tough, that for a long time they were described stringy and elastic nature of the wood as distinct species, when filled with sap, making it even more 214 A WHITE TABLE IN THE WOODS. This is not a tale of far away and long table cover was of the best quality of ago — in the Black Forest, for instance — birch bark. The butler host — or per- but a true story of the summer just past, haps we might call him the architect of and it comes from under the shadow of the feast — was the Yellow-breasted Sap- our own White Mountains, where two sucker; if you didn't know him well you boys made discoveries in the great out of would call him just one of the woodpeck- doors. The boys let me into many of ers ; he had all their peculiarities, crawled their secrets, and now the summer is around up and down the tree trunk, brae- gone I am allowed to tell this one, be- ing himself with his tail, pecking, pound- cause, if you have never happened to find ing and boring, he excavated the hun- a big table spread not under the trees for dreds of round holes, each one a soup picnic people, but high up in a tree for plate to catch and hold the ascending sap. woods people, you will want to look for This is what the Sapsucker seeks, and up- one next summer. on this alone he can live all summer, as This was, of course, a wooden table, its proved by Mr. Frank Bolles, who tells us cover both snowy and glossy ; the plates, how he caught and kept young Sapsuck^ which were round, and all the same size, ers alive till October, feeding them only were of wood and placed in straight, reg- on diluted maple syrup. But tiny insects ular rows, six hundred and fifty of them are fond of sweets, too ; they swarmed — that is true, for the boys counted and around and lost themselves in our wood- computed — a hospitable board, you pecker's full soup plates, thus furnishing think, and you will be sure of it when you him with the animal food needed by such know the whole story ! The butler — who a worker. was also host — not only arranged but There was always' a buzz of bees and carved the plates, and wore a business big flies about the tree table, who seemed suit of black and white, with a bright red to feast and get away safely. These first cap and necktie of the same cheerful hue attracted our attention, but if we stayed over a buff shirt. five minutes we were sure to hear the The feast at this table was continuous, dear, familiar sound announcing the most consisting of choice game, and the sweet- charming of all guests — humming birds est of sweets. The guests, who came and — you know they are brave, brave as they went during all the sunshine hours, were are beautiful, but we found them shy so various in dress and manners that they about coming too near a Sapsucker ; they could not be compared with those at any hovered over his table as over a flower public or private banquet ever known, so bed, often lighting on twigs to watch their the puzzle must stop here and the plain chance at the freshest and fullest dishes, facts be told. With the ruby throats, and on the best The table was twenty feet from the of terms with them, came gorgeous but- ground, and set on one side of a tree, so, terflies ; the red admiral, the tiger swallow though of wood, and as round as the tree, tail, and the antiopa were always there, you see it differed fifom your dining-table and how bright they were seen against — and King Arthur's — in being tipped the snowy birch tree, in dazzling morn- perpendicularly so as to arrange the ing sunshine ! plates in straight rows, close together, The biggest and boldest of all the free thus accommodating more guests. The feeders is on record as having come and 215 gone fifteen times in fifteen minutes, a and fancied that when at last their work fat red squirrel, hair brushed and tail was done the night moths and bats would curled, not scolding or chattering here, have their turn, and perhaps some brisk lie seemed to suspect himself out of place, little owl would take the squirrel's perch for, taking a side seat on an outreaching for a night lunch, getting away just be- branch, he would frisk off when bidden to fore the sunrise concert opened another go, but back again and again till he had day of eating, drinking, and being merry his fill. at the white tree table. Of course the last bird to leave the tree Elizabeth Reed Brownell. at night was the Sapsucker, but when he (The Yellow-breasted Sapsucker men- and all his family were gone, and the sun tioned in the story is the eastern relative out of sight, we found a swarm of big of the Red-breasted Sapsucker of our il- yellow bees bustling about the high seats, lustration.— Editor.) THE MOON-BABY. There's a beautiful golden cradle That rocks in the rose- red sky; I have seen it there in the evening air Where the bats and beetles fly, With little white clouds for curtains And pillows of fleecy wool, And a dear little bed for the moon-baby's head, So tiny and beautiful. There are tender young stars around it, That wait for their bath of dew In the purple tints that the sun's warm prints Have left on the mountain blue; There are good little gentle planets, That want to be nursed and kissed, And laid to sleep in the ocean deep, Under silvery folds of mist. But the moon-baby first must slumber, For he is their proud young king; So, hand in hand, round his bed they stand, And lullabies low they sing. And the beautiful golden cradle Is rocked by the winds that stray, With pinions soft, from the halls aloft, Where the moon-baby lives to-day. —Pall Mall Gazette. THE CECROPIA AND PROMETHEA MOTHS. In the study of Natural History it is the habits and life-histories of the living animals which appeal most strongly to young people. A large part of the lead ing Botanists and Zoologists of this country began, as young people, their studies of Nature by collecting animals and plants and studying their life-history and habits. It is this dynamical side, the relation of the animal to its surroundings, which arouses our interest. Since this has been the most natural method by which the interest in nature has been de veloped, it is surprising how little this side of Zoology has been encouraged by many of our better colleges and universi ties. From the standpoint of the teacher, in sects as a rule, stand very high with re gard to the interest which they arouse in scholars for nature-study. This is quite natural, since the great abundance and interesting habits of these animals make them comparatively easy to study. The two insects which we figure this month are very common and widely distributed, and thus have become very generally known. When we once become familiar with them, these beautiful moths are of perennial interest, and each season one is pleased to renew his acquaintance with them. The Cecropia is our largest and to many persons the best-known moth. Its gigantic size, varying from about 4 to 7 inches in expanse of wings, together with its bright colors, makes it an easily re membered insect. The scientific name of this moth (Samia cecropia) is the first scientific name of an insect that many of us can recall learning. The time of active flight is at night, and thus it is that they are so frequently found in numbers about electric lights to which they have been at tracted by the intense light. Their rather awkward flight and large size often lead to their being mistaken for bats. The differences between the sexes are not so manifest as in Promethea, yet it is not difficult to distinguish them. The fe males are larger and have stouter bodies, but the most conspicuous difference is that the "feelers" or antennae of the male are feather-like and very large and broad, while those of the female are only about one-half as broad. The eggs are somewhat flattened, about one-tenth of an inch long, pale in color, and are deposited by the female in small patches upon a large variety of plants, since there are about fifty of these upon which the larvae will feed. The eggs usually hatch in about a week or ten days, the young larvae being very differ ent in appearance from the mature ones. The changes in appearance are brought about by five moults or sheddings of the skin. The full-grown larva is pale green or light blue, 3 or 4 inches long, armed with eight more or less complete rows of Urge tubercles. Thoseaboveon the second or third thoracic segment, are bright red; all the others are yellow except those on the sides of the body and on the first thoracic and last body segment, which are blue. Unfortunately, these colors soon fade in the dead larva as is seen in the plate. This wonderful development of tubercles seems to be in some way re lated to the arboreal habits of the larvae. Although a variety of parasites which prey upon these larvae is not large, they are very numerous in individuals, and it is to this cause that only a small per cent of the larvae ever produce moths. These parasites develop beneath the skin of the larva as footless grubs, which, at first, do not attack the vital organs, but later these organs are preyed upon, and the larva dies. A wasp-like insect which preys up on this larva well illustrates in its habits the crudeness of many instincts. The female will lay eight or ten eggs upon one caterpillar, but as the young parasitic grubs require a large amount of food, only one is able to mature and the others perish. The insect parasites seem, in many 219 cases, to mature and transform into the nary form and not attached to a twig, but adult stage after the caterpillar has built found in the grass or in shrubs near the its cocoon, and thus many parasites lose ground. The two other forms of cocoons their lives, since they are not always able are much smaller and more closely to escape from the cocoon. A cocoon woven, but differ in size ; female moths as will sometimes be found filled with these a rule emerging from the larger cocoons, small insects, which have not been able and males from the smaller ones, to make their escape, and have thus died Dead larvae are sometimes found in in prison. cocoons which are practically of a single The adult larva, unlike Prometha, usu- thickness ; there being no space between ally spins its cocoon not attached to a the outer and inner layers. The hollow leaf, but along a stem ; sometimes, how- skins of the larvae found in such cocoons ever, they may be placed in other situa- clearly show that this unusual cocoon is tions. due to the influence of parasites upon the In about two weeks after the cocoon . larva. has been spun, the larva transforms into In the upper open end of the cocoon, a chrysalis, in which stage it hibernates kernels of wheat, corn, beechnuts and during the winter, and from which it even acorns have been found. How these emerges in May or June. get in this position seems to be quite a During the winter, when the leaves are puzzle. In opening twenty or thirty not on the trees and shrubs which are fre- cocoons, five or six kernels of corn have quented by these larvae, a large number been found, thus showing that this oc- of cocoons may easily be collected. These currence is by no means rare. Chicka- should be kept out of doors during the dees and blue-jays have been given the winter, for if kept in a warm room they blame for this work, since these birds are will emerge during the winter or so early thought to have the habit of hiding food, in the spring that food cannot be secured The inverted outer layer of the cocoon for the larvae. clearly shows, in some cases, that the ker- If one secure a number of old cocoons, nel of corn has been thrust into the from which the moths have failed to cocoon with some force, emerge, and cut them open longitudinal- The head of the pupa lies at the small ly, he may karn many interesting facts, end of the cocoon, where the texture is A dead and dry mummified looking larva less dense, and thus, when it is ready to or chrysalis may be found, or, what is transform into the moth, the head is in even more interesting, no trace of the the best position for easy escape from the larva or chrysalis may be present, but cocoon. But this provision alone is not only a mass of small white, paper-like sufficient to make sure the escape. At cocoons. These have been left by a col- the time of emergence, the pupa secretes ony of little wasp-like parasites which a fluid which escapes from the mouth and may occur in such large numbers that by moistening the cocoon softens the there is scarcely room for all to spin their glue-like material which binds together cocoons, so that on account of being so the threads, thus making it possible for closely crowded together, they are the freshly emerging moth to crowd its moulded into a mass of cocoons having way between the fibres, and thus secure the form of the cavity formerly occupied its freedom. When the moth first crawls by the larva. out of the cocoon, its heavy body and The cocoons of Cecropia are composed small folded wings show but little resetn- of two parchment-like layers of silk blance to the fully-expanded moth. By which are generally very dense and degrees, however, the wings expand and strong. The space between these two become more rigid, the colors brighten, layers contains loosely spun threads of and finally the mature moth is developed, silk like a layer of packing material. The The Promethea Moth is only about larvae seem normally to luake three varie- one-half the size of Cecropia, and the two ties of cocoons ; one kind is very loosely sexes are very different in appearance ; so constructed, much larger than the ordi- much so that one would not at all think 220 they were the same kind of moths. As This is accomplished as follows : The in Cecropia the male moths are some- larva grasps firmly the branch with its what smaller than the females, and the posterior legs ; reaches out a considerable antennae show the same kind of differ- distance along the petiole, and bites it ences, i. e., the antennae of the males are through in several places. This causes much larger and feather-like. In color, the leaf to droop ; the larva now reaches the sexes of Cecropia are much alike, but out, seizes the drooping leaf, and draws it in this moth the differences in color are within convenient reach, where it can be very great, the dominant color in the fe- eaten at leisure. This is a wonderful dis- male being a reddish brown, while that in play of instinct, yet it is not infallible, be- the male is a very dark-bfown or almost cause at times the petioles are eaten too black. Thus these moths furnish an ex- far through, and when they droop, break cellent illustration of what is called sexual completely away and fall to the ground, dimorphism, a term used for thoseanimals When ready to spin its cocoon, the in which the sexes are very different in adult larva is about two inches long; appearance, a subject to which Charles these cocoons are very different from Darwin gave considerable attention, in those of Cecropia. As a rule, they are his "Descent of Man." found suspended from a branch by a silk- The female moth lays her cream-col- en cord, the length of which depends up- ored eggs, which are a little smaller than on the length of the petiole of the leaf in those of Cecropia, upon shrubs and trees which the cocoon was spun. Thus if the in clusters of five or six. The small larva leaf has only a short petiole, this cord is usually hatches in about ten days, and also short, but if the petiole is two or feeds upon the leaves of ash, sassafras, three inches long, the suspensory cord is lilac, tulip tree, maple, cherry, and a mum- correspondingly long. The larva in con- ber of other trees and shrubs, but it is structing its cocoon, first spins a strong much more select in the choice of its food band around a twig, and binds the petiole than Cecropia. The larvae have voracious of the leaf to the stem ; this band extends appetites, devour many leaves and grow down the petiole to the cocoon, and thus at a correspondingly rapid rate. The dif- anchors it. The cocoon proper, or the ferences between the very young and the part occupied by the chrysalis, is spun in adult larva, aside from that of size, are a folded leaf. When this leaf dies and very great. On account ofjthe very lim- rots away, the cocoon hangs freely sus- ited elasticity of the skin, this larva, like pended by the cord, but it is very evident other insect larvae, only increases in size that the cocoon has been moulded in a after shedding. This is periodically ac- leaf by the prints of the veins which re- complished by throwing off the old skin, main upon it. A valve-like opening oc- which prevented expansion, and by grow- curs in the upper end, through which the ing a new and larger one. Promethea moth emerges. . has from three to five of these moults, the The wings of the chrysalis are very number being influenced apparently by small as compared with those of the adult climate, since southern larvae have more moth ; are folded to the body on the under moults than northern ones. The time be- side, and covered by the pupal skin. Dur- tween these moults varies from two days ing the winter they remain transparent to a week. since there are at this time none of the The leaves upon which the larvae feed rich colors present which are later found may have long or short petioles. A in the moth. About ten days before the singular account has been given of how moth emerges the wings become white, these larvae have overcome the difficul- a few days later definite colors begin to ties associated with feeding upon long- appear on the under side of the wings petioled leaves. There is considerable between the veins. While in the adult risk of falling and of the leaf breaking moths the colors in the two sexes are away when a large larva crawls out upon very distinct, at this time their wings are a slender petiole. The larva avoids these verv similar. The wings do not long re- risks and yet reaches the blade of the leaf, tain this similarity, but gradually be- 221 come more and more unlike until matur- very large antennae of the male, since it ity. is in these organs that the sense of smell Breeders of moths have often noticed is located. that there is considerable uniformity with Although it may be very interesting to regard to the time of day at which cer- read about the activities of insects, a tain kinds of moths emerge. For Prome- much more fascinating side of the sub- thea this time seems to be in the fore- ject is to handle and study the insects noon. themselves, and there are but few better From an extensive series of experi- insects with which to begin a personal ac- ments, it has been learned that the male quaintance than these which we have finds his mate by means of scent and that been considering, this is doubtless the explanation for the Charles Christopher Adams. A PLEA FOR LEGISLATIVE PROTECTION. In former numbers of Birds and Na- tic animals) as legitimate targets for their ture we have seen how much our welfare weapons, have not been dealt with severe- and happiness depends upon the birds, ly enough. Even where the laws have Some hints have been given as to how we seemed prohibitive enough they have may encourage the birds to become resi- often failed of their purpose because not dents of our premises so that we may en- properly enforced. There are, then, two list them in the constant warfare against things to be considered. First, the pas- worm and weevil. If there were no great sage of laws that will be prohibitive, and, and universal interest at stake in this second, machinery adequate to their en- question, How much do we owe to the forcement. birds ? we should, perhaps, have no right The first question will then be, How to go beyond simple encouragement to may we secure the passage of laws such the birds to multiply and do their good as we need? Certainly not by waiting for work in certain chosen places. But the the state legislatures to do it. In such interests are universal and so deeply con- matters, at least, they wait for an expres- cern the whole world that we have an un- sion of the people. Then agitate the doubted right to say to those who would question until the time is ripe for present- kill everything in sight, either for gain or ing it before the lawmakers of your state for so-called "sport," Thou shalt not ! In and push it. Write to Mr. Witmer Stone, other words, we have the right to make the chairman of the American Ornitholo- laws forbidding anybody to kill birds ex- gists' Union, chairman of the Committee cept for the best of reasons. This right on Bird Protection, for a copy of the ideal has been acted upon in most states and law, and then act in line with other states, in many foreign countries, where various If each state acts in accord with some degrees of protection to the birds as well plan for the whole country, we shall have as to other animals have been secured. practically a national protective law. But But in very many, if not in most cases, even this community of interest will not the laws enacted have not furnished pro- accomplish the purpose for which we set tection enough. Those who have put a out, even as a law, saying nothing of en- price upon a bird's plumage, who furnish forcement. All this is directed against the temptation for others to break the law the killing of birds. The law must pro- against killing birds, have not had a hibit the sale of the bird or any part of its check put upon them. And the class of plumage for any purpose. Carefully "sportsmen" which regards anything liv- guarded exceptions or privileges might ing (except man and some of the domes- be favorable to those who need material 222 for strictly scientific study. But it is nec essary to go even further than this. We shall not accomplish our purpose until a law is enacted prohibiting the importa tion of feathers, whether on the skin or separated from it. If we are not yet ready to say that no feathers may be imported, then let us absolutely prohibit the impor tation of any part of any species of our native birds, whether killed in America or anywhere else. That much lies within our power. Evidently we are not yet ready to say that birds, or parts of birds — meaning our native birds — shall not be worn as an article of dress. We need a long campaign of education before that will be feasible. What, now, of the enforcement of these laws? Clearly the enforcement of any law must have behind it a public senti ment demanding enforcement. A law fails to be prohibitive when it receives only indifferent attention from the public for whom is was passed. It is our privi lege to so bring to the attention of the people at large their own great interests, which are dependent upon the birds, that their eyes shall be opened to see the great necessity of prompt and united action. The great growth of popular interest in the birds during the past three years is the clearest proof that the time is now ripe for such a campaign of education. Push it now. In every mind there lies dormant an interest in nature which needs but a touch now to be awakened to activ ity and usefulness. But there is still the machinery of en forcement to be considered, for however much the general public may be edu cated there will always be some persons, not a small number, we fear, who must be held in check by legislative action. In the first place, game wardens are too few, in most counties, to properly enforce the laws. They should be numerous enough and so situated that they may be reached readily. But if this increase in number be not practicable, then there is a way out of the difficulty. We must be more ac tive ourselves. In a large majority of cases we shall have no need to cause ar rests, but need only to inform the trans gressor of the existence of the law, giving him some useful information of the great good which the birds do, and of the plea sure which may be gained from a study of the living bird, and the purposes of the law will be accomplished. For many times the transgressor is of foreign birth, knowing nothing of the esteem in which we hold the birds. Or else the person is simply thoughtless, or ignorant of the law and its purposes. The other cases of flagrant breaking of the law need and de serve prompt and severe treatment. Here it is often not a matter of education but of discipline. It is not pleasant to be an in former, but such cases should be put up on a par with any other sort of law-break ing, for there is a great public interest in volved beside which our own personal in terest, however great that may be, sinks into insignificance. It is a duty which we have no right to shirk. To summarize the means by which we may hope to secure adequate protection for our rapidly decreasing birds: Legis lative action brought about by combined effort throughout the country; enforce ment of the laws enacted by an increase in the public interest, by an increase of the number of game wardens, by our own activity in seeing that the laws are en forced. By these means we may accom plish what we undertake. Lynds Jones. The little bird sits at his door in the sun, Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, And lets his illumined being o'errun With the deluge of summer it receives; His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings, And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings; He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest, In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best? -James Russell Lowell, "The Vision of Sir Launfal." 225 THE DOG AND ITS ANCESTORS. That the domestic dog has been held in having a round pupil in the eye and a high esteem by mankind from the earliest short tail. Second, the foxes, which are times, is shown by written records and characterized by a slit-like pupil and a mummified remains obtained from coun- long bushy tail ; and, third, the long-eared tries situated widely apart. The state- dogs which inhabit eastern deserts and ment occurs in the Zendavesta, that "the possess more numerous and a different world exists through the intellect of the set of teeth than the other groups. Con- dog." Cuvier wrote that "the dog is the sidered as a family they are distinguished completest, the most singular and the by a lean body, small head, the slim or most useful conquest that man has ever long legs terminated by small paws fur- made * * * each individual is devoted nished with strong but not retractile to man and remains attached to him even claws. The fore paws usually have five unto death ; and all this springs not from toes while the hind paws are always lim- necessity nor from fear, but from a true ited to four. As the dogs do not live ex- friendship. The dog is the only animal clusively on animal food they are not as that has followed man all over the globe." savage as the cats, neither do they pos- Egyptians monuments dating back sess the "soulless expression of face so 3,400 years B. C, show several varieties characteristic of the felidae." of dogs, most of them being allied to the While most of the dog family are greyhound. Carved records of a later gregarious, certain forms lead lives that period portray the mastiff, a turnspit and are solitary or nearly so. Other species a form closely resembling the hound. are nocturnal in their habits, while yet Without question the dog was domesti- others burrow in the earth for shelter or cated in Europe previous to any histori- protection. All bend the joints of the cal record. His remains are found in the legs in walking, all possess great speed kitchen-middens of Neolithic times and and endurance, and without exception an increasing size in the animals is no- are good swimmers. ticed through the Bronze and Iron ages Intellectually, dogs are more highly de- in Denmark. Remains of the Neolithic veloped than any other brute animal, in Switzerland disclose skulls closely re- Many forms act with a rational delibera- sembling our hounds, setters or spaniels. tion and follow carefully thought-out The Americans had indigenous dogs be- plans. The senses are wonderfully devel- fore the conquering Spaniards introduced oped. The sense of smell is marvelous European species, and mummies of dogs in many forms, while strength of eyesight are found in the oldest Peruvian tombs. distinguishes others. All this goes to show that the differen- Of the three groups mentioned, the tiation of the dog took place at a very wolf without question was the ancestor early date. As in the case of man, the of the domestic dog. In the German link is missing, but the ancestry is cer- mythology, he was consecrated to the tain. Without question the varieties of god Woden, but when Christianity recon- the dog originated in domestication and structed old beliefs, Woden was meta- inter-breeding of different species of morphosed into "The Wild Hunter," and wolves living in various parts of the the wolves became his attending dogs, world. which finally were evolved into the The dog family is divided into three ghost-like wolves of nursery and fable, groups. First, the wolves or wild dogs, The wolf has all the attributes of the dog 226 except the nobility which necessarily keen senses, especially that of smell, comes from education. The tail always Among these are the Pointers, the Ger- droops, never curling upwards as in the man Bloodhounds, the Staghounds, the domestic dogs, and even when tamed Beagles, and the Foxhound. This last is they rarely wag the tail. Among the justly considered the greatest of hunting wolves may be mentioned the jackals of dogs, possessing the speed of the grey- Asia, which are said to have entered hound, the courage of the bulldog, the largely into the breeds of oriental dogs, delicate scent of the bloodhound and the These were known to the ancients as sagacity of the poodle, he is well equipped "gold wolves, "and are said to be the foxes for his duties in field and forest, whose tails Samson set on fire in order Probably no two dogs have so en- to burn the fields and vineyards of the deared themselves to mankind as the St. Philistines. The Indian wild dog, or Bernard and the Newfoundland. Both "Kolsun" is claimed by many to be the of these, together with the Spaniels, Set- progenitor of all domesticated dogs. He ters and the sagacious Poodles make up closely resembles a greyhound, and is the Spaniel group. While as a class they found all over the Himalaya and East In- are not remarkable for docility or endur- dia country. He exhibits many traits ance, these defects are more than corn- characteristic of our hunting dogs. pensated by a superior intelligence, fidel- Prominent among several distinctive ity, courage, keen scent and great speed, and familiar breeds of dogs is the Grey- Much has been written about the quali- hound, which while graceful and univer- ties of the Newfoundlands and St. Ber- sally popular as a pet, and a sporting dog, nards. The first are said to be the best is unfaithful and unsympathetic. The of all water dogs, possessed of great great lung capacity gives the animal un- beauty and an exceptional fund of good usual endurance, but while possessed of nature, gentleness and gratitude. The keen sight and hearing, the sense of smell heroic deeds of the others are inseparably is very deficient. The Mastiffs constitute linked with their native home, the another group embracing many of the fa- Hospice of St. Bernard. The intelli- miliar forms. Among these are the Dan- gence and courage exhibited by these ish dog, the German Mastiffs, the Bulldog dogs among the avalanches and frozen and the Pug. With the exception of the wastes of their mountain homes have Pug, which is justly called a caricature of given them a place in history and earned a dog, the group is remarkable for fidel- for them the title of "The worthiest of ity, courage, determination and strength, them all." Great Britain is the home of the Hounds The Setter, which is illustrated in this which, because of their intelligence and article, is an excellent type of a certain docility, are considered to be in the first class of the Spaniels. The animal is an rank of domestic dogs. All the varieties excellent hunting dog and gains its name of this group are born hunters, being from its habit of crouching close to the strong, swift and possessed of unusually ground when pointing game. Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas to-night! Christmas in lands of the fir-tree and pine, Christmas in lands of the palm-tree and vine. Christmas where snow-peaks stand solemn and white, Christmas where corn-fields lie sunny and bright, Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas to-night ! -Phillips Brooks, "A Christmas Carol.' 227 A FAVORITE HAUNT. Children, as a rule, especially those born and raised in the rural districts, have some favorite haunt where they especially -delight to spend their time and where cer tain pleasant associations are formed, the memory of which is treasured in after years. The writer was no exception to this rule, and he will endeavor to describe a certain "Deserted Limestone Quarry," which, in his case, was the favorite haunt of childhood. A perusal of the following will give my readers an idea of the gen eral appearance of the locality. In the center was a large body of deep water, bounded on three sides by steep banks, interspersed with huge rocks and sand stone boulders. On the fourth side was a cart road leading to the double stone lime kiln, then out of use. The south bank was bordered by a piece of woodland, through which ran a little rippling brook, and the other three sides by pasture fields. Within the deep gulch, and ex tending around about two-thirds of the body of water, was a combined cart road and pathway, at the extreme end of which, lying under two large, overhanging rocks, was a spring of most delicious water. It was quite deep, but you could see the golden sand and white pebbles at the bot tom very plainly. Hanging from the banks above mentioned were numerous sumach bushes and blackberry briars. Such were the natural surroundings of my favorite haunt. A charming place, indeed ; quiet, retired, and a veritable par adise for the admirer of nature's beauties. Now a few words regarding the many little friends with which I associated, and whose habits and daily lives I studied. Within the lime kiln a pair of Pewees built their nest; among the briars on the bank, the Song Sparrows reigned ; in the piece of woodland referred to were the nests of a Green Heron, of Blue Jays, Crows, Cat Birds, Wood Thrushes, Crested Flycatchers, etc. I also observed Belted Kingfishers on many occasions, but never found a nest. Owing to the large number of insects around the water the quarry was a favorite feeding ground for King Birds, Pewees and Swallows, and they could be seen skimming over the surface of the water from early dawn to the twilight of evening. Aside from this large bird population, there were land and water turtles, snap ping turtles, frogs in all stages of trans formation, sun and catfish, many beauti ful butterflies, and a family of little gray rabbits. I had the pleasure of seeing the latter when they were scarcely larger than small kittens. Along the borders of the woods were gray squirrels, ground squirrels and ground hogs. Thus, in this one particular, opportunity was afforded for the study of a large number of nat ural history subjects. Here, too, was the pleasant odor of fresh green spearmint and the sweet scent of wild roses. In the early spring time a profusion of wild vio lets (blue and yellow), dog-tooth violets, blood roots, spring beauties, anemones, "jack-in-the-pulpit," belwort and hare bell were to be found in the strip of wood land, and later in the season the pasture fields were covered with buttercups and daisies. Were all details entered into, a volume could be written concerning this old quarry and the many happy hours spent there, but 1 will not burden my readers with further reminiscences of my favorite haunt. Berton Mercer. 228 CARNIVOROUS PLANTS. This name has been given to certain rangements for their capture as other plants which have developed the curious forms. Perhaps the most famous of the habit of capturing insects and using them pitcher plants is one which is common for food. This behavior seems at first throughout the southern states. The sight most unplantlike, but it is discov- leaves are shaped like slender hollow ered that the actual food of all plants is cones, and rise in a tuft from the swampy practically the same as that of animals, ground. The mouth of this conical urn The chief peculiarity of carnivorous is overarched and shaded by a hood in plants, therefore, does not lie in the food which are translucent spots like small which they use, but in the methods which windows. Around the mouth of the urn they have worked out for securing it. are glands which secrete a sweet liquid, They are all green plants, and hence are and drops of this nectar form a trail down able to make food for themselves, but the outside of the urn. Inside, just below they live in surroundings which are poor the rim of the urn, is a glazed zone so in some of the material which they need smooth that insects cannot walk upon it. in the manufacture of food, so that they Below the glazed zone is another zone have learned to supplement their food by thickly set with stiff downward-pointing capturing insects or other small animals, hairs, and below this is the liquid in the When it was discovered that these plants bottom of the urn. If a fly is attracted by not only captured insects, but secreted the nectar drops on this curious leaf, it substances for digesting them, it was naturally follows the trail up to the rim thought to be a very astonishing fact. It of the urn where the nectar is abundant, is found, however, that all plants have di- If it attempts to descend into the urn it gestive substances to act upon their food slips on the glazed zone and falls into materials, and that animals are not pecu- the water ; and if it attempts to escape liar in this regard. It would seem, there- by crawling up the side of the urn, the fore, that the use of such food as the thick-set, downward-pointing hairs pre- bodies of insects and the digesting of this vent. If it seeks to fly away from the rim iood are not facts which are peculiar to it flies towards the translucent spots in carnivorous plants, but belong to all the hood, which look like the way of es- plants as well. cape, as the direction of entrance is in the It is interesting, however, to observe shadow of the hood. Pounding against the various devices which plants have the hood the fly falls into the water. This adapted for capturing their prey, and it is southern pitcher plant is known as a great these various devices which form the fly catcher, and is frequently used for this subject of this paper. purpose in the south. Prominent among the carnivorous The very largest of the pitcher plants plants are the pitcher plants, whose leaves is one which grows in the swamps of Cal- form tubes, or urns, or pitchers of vari- ifornia, whose leaves sometimes become ous forms, which contain water, and to as much as two or three feet high, the which insects are attracted and drowned, huge pitchers forming the most capa- There is a very common pitcher plant in cious receptacle for insects of all kinds our northern bogs, in whose urn-like and sizes. Its general plan is like that of leaves insects are found drowned, but the southern pitcher plant described which does not have such elaborate ar- above, in that it has an overarching hood 'TED BY LINCOLN PARK COMMISSIONERS. PITCHER PLANT. (Nepenthes ) COPYRIGHT 19OO, BY A. W. MUMFORD. CHICAGO. 231 with translucent spots, and a trail of nee- blade. All of these glands secrete a clear tar which leads to the dangerous rim.. It sticky fluid which hangs to them in drops has become further elaborated, however, like dew-drops, and since these dew- in that the hood extends into a gaudy drops are not dispelled by the sun the fish-like appendage, whose colors and plants have been called the sun-dews. If flapping serve to attract the flying as well a small insect, in flying or creeping across as the creeping insects. The pitcher, also, the plant, happens to touch one of the instead of being straight, is spirally twist- sticky drops it becomes entangled, and ed, and has a wing-like expansion which then there follows a curious scene. If the serves as a guide in the spiral ascent to insect is small, the single bristle-like hair, the rim, and leads the victim with defin- in whose sticky drop it has become entan- iteness and certainty to the region of dan- gled, will begin to bend inwards and will ger. The fish-tail appendage is also finally press the captured insect down up- smeared with the nectar secretion, so that on the body of the leaf where the short any flying insect lighting upon it is en- 'glandular hairs receive it. If the insect ticed under the overshadowing arch and is strong enough, however, to escape is almost sure of capture. from a single sticky drop, neighboring The most common pitcher plants of the hairs will bend toward the one which has tropics are the Nepenthes, one of which Captured the insect, and by adding their is shown in our illustration. It will be mite of strength and glue, succeed in de- noticed that each leaf when fully formed taining it until they all bend inwards and consists of three distinct regions, name- press it down upon the leaf. In some ly, the leaf-like blade, which is continued cases the whole half of a leaf will roll in- into a tendril which coils around a sup- wards in this attempt to secure an insect, port, and the tendril in turn ends in a cu- In this position the captured insect is riously-formed pitcher, which has a more gradually digested and its nutritive sub- or less complete lid. These pitchers are stances absorbed. often mottled with bright colors, and as Perhaps the most famous and remark- they swing at the ends of the tendrils they able of the fly-catching plants is the Ve- seem to attract the attention of roving in- nus fly-trap, known only in swamps near sects. Around the rim of the pitcher a Wilmington, North Carolina. This fly- very definite row of glands may be ob- trap does not depend upon drowning the served, which secrete the nectar to which insects, or upon sticking them fast, but the insects are attracted. The arrange- upon its quickness of movement. Of ments within the pitcher are such as have course this seems most wonderful in been described for the ordinary pitcher plants, which are not ordinarily endowed plant. These pitchers of Nepenthes are with powers of quick motion. Dionaea, usually found containing insects, and for this is the name of the Venus fly-trap, often very many of them, whose bodies has a cluster of small leaves rising from are being slowly digested and the prod- the marshy ground, just as is the case ucts absorbed by the plant. with pitcher plants and sun-dews. The Another group of carnivorous plants lower part of the leaf is like any ordinary consists of the sun-dews which grow in blade, but above becomes pinched almost swampy regions and are quite common in in two, and then suddenly flares out again our sphagnum swamps. While the into a round blade-like expansion which pitcher plants depend upon luring insects is constructed like a steel trap, the two to their death by drowning, the sun-dews halves snapping together and the mar- depend upon stickiness'. The leaves form ginal bristles interlocking like the teeth small rosettes on the ground and are of of a trap. A few sensitive hair-like feel- various shapes. In one of the most com- ers are developed on the leaf surface, and mon forms the leaf blade is round, and when one of these is touched by a small the margin is beset by prominent bris- flying or hovering insect, the trap snaps tie-like hairs, each with a globular gland shut and the insect is caught, at its tip. Shorter gland-bearing hairs are Many interesting experiments have scattered over the inner surface of the been performed with Dionaea to show its 232 quickness and its recognition of suitable which they obtain it. There are other food material. For example, although it green plants which supplement their food will snap shut at the touch of a pencil supply by preying upon other plants. For point, or any other indigestible substance, example, the mistletoe is able to manufac- it soon opens again; while in the case of ture a certain amount of food for itself, a digestible substance the trap remains but it adds to this supply by absorbing closed until digestion has taken place. It prepared food from the trees upon which has been claimed further that when the it grows. The dodder is another illus- trap has closed its bristles do not in- tration of a high grade plant which be- terlock closely at first, so that between gins life independently, but presently the crevices very small insects may crawl breaks its connection with the soil and out and escape. In such an event the becomes entirely dependent upon the trap opens again and waits for other prey, plants around which it twines and from If this be true, it follows that the leaf does which it absorbs. not undertake the rather long process of A great many plants are known as digestion until an insect of suitable size root-parasites, that is, they absorb from has been captured, one which cannot es- the underground parts of other plants, cape through the meshes of the bristles. This is notably the case with the orchids Digestion is slow work with Dionaea as and heaths, which have the appearance with an anaconda, being said to occupy above ground of being entirely independ- not less than two weeks. ent, but which really are quite dependent Among the common marsh plants in upon the underground parts of other certain regions are the bladderworts, so- plants. called because their bodies are kept afloat One of the lowest groups of plants, in water by means of numerous little known as the fungi, have cultivated most bladders. While these bladders are used completely the habit of dependence on in this fashion, they also serve as most ef- other organisms. They attack both plants fective traps for certain very small water and animals, and are often exceedingly animals related to the insects. Each blad- destructive. Among the better known of der has a sort of opening which is guard- these parasites are the rusts, which at- ed by a door like that of an ordinary rat tack and destroy many of our most useful trap. From the side of this entrance hairs crops. To the fungi there also belong the are floating and waving in the water, and well-known bacteria, which are the cause within the transparent bladder are other of numerous contagious diseases both waving tufts of hairs. For some reason among plants and animals. It will be ob- these things are attractive to the minute served that these parasites are using ex- water animals, and they push aside the actly the same sort of food as do the car- easily-moved trap door, and entering the nivorous plants. This does not appear bladder find escape impossible, for the so striking in this case, simply because door, which was easy to push aside on en- the attacking plants are so much smaller tering, cannot possibly be moved out- than the organisms attacked that they do wards. not seem to capture them, although they It must not be supposed that carnivor- are often none the less effective in de- ous plants are peculiar in the kind of food stroying them. John Merle Coulter, they use, but merely in the source from MAPLE LEAVES. October turned my maple's leaves to gold ; The most are gone now ; here and there one lingers ; Soon these will slip from out the twig's weak hold, Like coins between a dying miser's fingers. Thomas Bailey Aldrich. FROM KCEHLER'S MEDICINAL-PFLAIMZ6N. MANDRAKE. CHICAGO: A. w. MUMFORD OUBLISMEI 235 MAY-APPLE. (Podophyllum peltatum L.} "The blushing1 peach and glossy plum there lies, And with the mandrake tempt your hands and eyes." — Quoted in Tuckerman's America, p. 33. The may-apple is a small perennial herb the rhizomes, stems and leaves have a with long root-stocks or underground very decided heavy, nauseous odor, and it stems (rhizomes), a native of the United is not unreasonable to assume that this States and Canada, growing in rather odor is traceable in flower and unripe moist woodlands. The rhizomes attain fruit. a length of about twelve feet; they are The flowers expand in May and the sparingly branched with comparatively fruit ripens in August. The fruit is a few roots at the nodes. Upon closer in- berry about the size of a plum. At first spection one may notice the leaf scars and green, it changes to a soft yellow at ma- stem scars. Early in the spring the bud turity. It is not unlike a tomato in gen- situated at the anterior end of the root- eral appearance. When fully ripe it has a stock or rhizome, develops and sends up fragrant odor and tastes somewhat like a stem upon which the leaves and flowrer the paw-paw (Asimina triloba). are situated. The entire plant attains a Podophyllum peltatum is variously height of about twelve inches. The leaves known as may-apple, Indian) apple, hog are large, peltate (from pelta, a small apple, wild lemon and raccoon berry in shield), margin deeply from five to nine reference to the fruit; duck's foot (Ger- lobed. lobes pendant thus giving the leaf man, Entenfuss) in reference to the form a semblance to an umbrella. It is re- of the leaf; wild jalap in reference to its markable that the flowerless plants have medicinal properties, which are similar only one leaf, while the flowering speci- to that of jalap. The generic name Podo- mens always have two, which are oppo- phyllum, meaning foot-leaf, is given in site upon the stem apex, carrying the reference to the leaf. The plant is also flower in the bifurcation as shown in the quite generally known as mandrake or illustration. American mandrake, but the mandrake Each plant bears a single flower up- proper, so frequently referred to in the on a drooping stalk. The calyx consists books of Moses and in the works of of six greenish sepals, which, however, Shakespeare, is not the may-apple but drop off as soon as the flower begins to Mandragara officinalis L. of the night- unfold. The corolla consists of six or shade family (Solanaceae), a native of nine petals, which are quite large, thick southern Europe. Earlier collectors sup- and pulpy, and of a creamy white color, posed the two plants to be similar if not Authorities seem to differ as to the odor identical. There is only one other spe- of the flower. Some speak of it as very cies of Podophyllum which is a native of fragrant ; others designate it as nauseous Europe. and others express no opinion. Mills- Apart from its beauty the may-apple paugh, in his "Medicinal Plants," says, is highly valued for its fruit, which is con- "The odor of the flowers is nauseous ; I sidered a delicacy by the American In- am always forcibly reminded of a bad dians. Whites apparently do not care case of ozaena when inhaling their per- much for the fruit, though it is occasion- fume (?)." It is an undoubted fact that ally collected and eaten. The taste of the 236 fully ripe fruit is quite pleasant. Some state it is like that of a tomato, and it cer tainly is not very nutritious. It must only be sparingly eaten because of its decid edly laxative properties. The entire plant is quite poisonous and it is stated that the cooked leaves have been eaten for "greens" with fatal results. The Indians have employed the plant medicinally for centuries. The1 principal use of the American mandrake is medicinal. It is a very effi cient cathartic, due to the presence o-f a resinous principle known as podophyllin, which has been given the name "vegeta ble calomel." It is no doubt true that this drug is in no small measure respon sible for the decrease in the use of the old- time mineral drug calomel. Both rhiz omes and leaves may be employed, but the former contain more of the active principle. The drug is rarely given alone because of the griping it produces ; it is combined with hyoscyamus and bella donna, also with aloes and colocynth. In large doses it usually acts as= an emetic, which would tend to prevent poisoning from an overdose. Podophyllin has been used in dropsy, scrofula and rheumatic affections. Applied externally it acts as a powerful irritant, similar to capsicum and mustard plaster. Description of Plate. — A, B, parts of the plant about natural size; I, flower bud ; 2, flower ; 3, stamens ; 4, ovary ; 5, fruit ; 6, seed coat ; 7, seed. Albert Schneider. I opened the eyes of my soul. And behold, A white river-lily: a lily awake, and aware— For she set her face upward — aware how in scarlet and gold A long wrinkled cloud, left behind of the wandering air, Lay over with fold upon fold, With fold upon fold. And the blushing sweet shame of the cloud made her also ashamed, The white river-lily, that suddenly knew she was fair; And over the far-away mountains that no man hath named, And that no foot hath trod, Flung down out of heavenly places, then fell, as it were, A rose-bloom, a token of love, that should make them endure, Withdrawn in snow silence forever, who keep themselves pure, And look up to God. -Jean Ingelow, "A Lily and a Lute." BIRDS and NATURE A MONTHLY SERIAL FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY Two VOLUMES EACH YEAR VOLUME IX JANUARY, 1901, TO MAY, 1901 EDITED BY WILLIAM KERR HIGLEY CHICAGO A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER 203 Michigan Ave. 1901 COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY A. W. MUMFORD INDEX. Volume IX — January, J90J, to May, J90J, Inclusive, PAGE Apple, The [Illustration] (Charles S. Raddin) 38 April [Sonnet] (Helen Hunt Jackson) 145 April [Poem] (Bernard Malcolm Ramsay) 145 Arbutus, The Trailing [Illustration] (Charles S. Raddin) 228 Arbutus, Trailing- [Poem] (George Bancroft Griffith) 231 At Dusk [Poem] (Albert Schneider) % Awakening [Poem] (Margaret E. Sangster) , 236 Back- Yard Class, A (Lee McCrae) 214 Bacteria, The Study of ( Adolph Gehrmann) 6 Bear, The [Illustration] 122 Beaver, The [Illustration] 170 Before the Storm [Poem] (Mary Morrison) 119 Bird Calendar by the Poets, A ( Arranged by Ella F. Mosby ) 24 Bird Gossip, A Bit of (S. E. McKee) 115 Bird Incidents (Berton Mercer) 126 Bird- Joke at Leafy Lawn, A (Gertrude Southwick Kingsland) 202 Bird Notes [Poem] (Mary Hefferan) 85 Bird, The Autobiography of a (Caroline Crowinshield Bascom) 17 Bird, The Story (Belle P. Drury) 121 Birds, The Geographical Distribution of (Lynds Jones) 65 Blackbird or Grackle, The Rusty [Illustration] 204 Blackbird's Song, The [Poem] (Walter Thornbury) 151 Black Bugs, The Story of Some (Louise Jamison) 12 Boy-Chickadee (Elizabeth Nunemacher) 120 Cinnamon [Illustration] ( Albert Schneider) 95 Crossbill, The Legend of the [Poem] (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) 5 Crossbill, The White-Winged [Illustration] 2 Cubebs [Illustration] (Albert Schneider) 191 Curassow, The [Illustration] 146 Dovekie, The [Illustration] , 167 Dowitcher, The [Illustration] , 59 Duck, The Harlequin [Illustration] 155 Eagle, A Golden (Charles Elmer Jenney) 152 Eagle, The [Poem] (Alfred Tennyson) 62 Elk or Wapiti, The American [Illustration] 216 February [Sonnet] (Helen Hunt Jackson) 49 Field Mouse, A Friendly (J. Clyde Hayden) 219 Fishes and Fish-Culture Among the Greeks and Romans (T. Louis Camparette) . . 89 Flower Garden, A Night in the (Fanny Wright Dixon) 36 Flycatcher, The Yellow- Breasted [Poem] (Carrie B. Sanborn) 8 Frost King's Realm, A Stroll in the ( Addie L. Booker) 73 Frost Work [Poem] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich) 49 Gila Monster [Illustration] ( Amelia Walson) , 80 Godwit, The Marbled [Illustration] 201 Grackle, The Great-Tailed [Illustration] 62 Grouse, The Canada [Illustration] (Seth Mindwell) 158 Hawks, The [Illustration] (Seth Mindwell) 50 Heart of a Dryad, The (Ella F. Mosby) 198 Hops [Illustration] (Albert Schneider) 235 Instinct, Do Plants Have (Rowland Watts) 162 Knot or Robin Snipe, The [Illustration] 14 Laurel, The Mountain [Illustration] 232 Lemon, The [Illustration] (Charles S. Raddin) 182 Lizard, The Collared [Illustration] 35 Lower Animals, Some Things We Might Learn from the (Rowland Watts) 60 March [Poem] (Walter Thornbury) 144 May [Poem] (Walter Thornbury) 193 Mrs. Jane's Experiment (Mary Noland) 72 Murrelet, The Marbled [Illustration] 119 Nautilus and Other Cephalopods, The [Illustration] (Frank Collins Baker) 222 Nautilus, The Chambered [Poem] (Oliver Wendell Holmes) 221 Nests, Some Notable (Elizabeth Reed Bro wnell) 149 Old Year, The [Poem] (Alfred Tennyson) 1 Orange, The [Illustration] 134 Orchard Bird- Way, An (Alberta A. Field) 156 Oriole, Audubon's [Illustration] (Seth Mindwell) 194 Owl, The American Hawk [Illustration] 23 Oyster and its Relatives, The [Illustration] (Frank Collins Baker) 26 Parrots, About [Illustration] (Lawrence Irwell) 98 Pau-Puk-Keewis and the Beavers [Poem] (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) 174 Pelican, The American White [Illustration] (Seth Mindwell) 110 Pepper [Illustration] (Albert Schneider) 143 Plants, The Geographical Distribution of the Seed-bearing (John Merle Coulter) 42 Poem [Selection] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich) 109 Poem [Selection] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich) 107 Poem [Selection] (Robert Browning) 227 Poem [Selection] (Barry Cornwall) 25 Poem ^Selection" (George Gee) 164 Poem [Selection] (George Gee) 167 Poem [Selection] (William M. Hardinge) 193 Poem [Selection ( Helen Hunt Jackson) 232 Poem [Selection] (John Keats) 41 Poem [Selection] (James Thompson) -. 59 Poem [Selection] (Walter Thornbury) 175 Polly [A Story about a Moth] (Susan Brown Robbins) 108 Pomegranate, The [Illustration] 86 Rabbit's Cream [Poem] (Hattie Whitney) 37 Sandpiper, The [Poem] (George Bancroft Griffith) 114 Sandpiper, The Solitary (H. S. Keller) 13 Scoter, The Surf [Illustration] (Frank M. Woodruff) 213 Sea- Bird, To a [Poem] (Bret Harte) 197 Sea- Mews in Winter Time [Poem] (Jean Ingelow) 127 Snails of the Forest and Field [Illustration] (Frank Collins Baker). 74 Snails of the Ocean [Illustration] (Frank Collins Baker) 176 Snails of Pond, River and Brook [Illustration] (Frank Collins Baker). , 128 Snipe, The Knot or Robin [Illustration] 14 Sparrow, The Alaskan [Poem] (Nellie Hart Woodworth) 56 Sparrow's Appeal, The Song (George Bancroft Griffith) 168 Spring [Poem] (Henry Wadsworth Longf ellow) .-r 9£ Stone Houses, Interesting (Rest H. Metcalf) 55 Summer, The Passing of [Poem] (Benjamin Karr) 32 Swan, The Musical (Juliette A. Owen) 137 Tree Top Town, A [Poem] (Austin Arnold McCausland). 192 Vanilla [Illustration] (Albert Schneider) 47 Viola Blanda [Poem] (Nelly Hart Woodworth) 14 Wapiti, The American Elk or [Illustration] 216 Warbler, The Hooded [Illustration] 71 Warbler, The Townsend's [Illustration] 11 What Evolution Means (Lawrence Irwell) 207 When Sprin g Comes [Poem] (George Gee) 188 Winter Buds, The Opening of (Roberta Irvine Brotherson) 220 Witch in the Cream, The (Elizabeth Roberts Burton) 169 Wrens, Two (Nelly Hart Woodworth) 185 BIRDS AND NATURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. IX JANUARY, 1901. No. i: THE OLD YEAR. Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease, Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be. —Alfred Tennyson, THE WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. (Loxia leucoptera.} The Crossbills, together with the The. Crossbills are even parrot-like in finches, the sparrows, the grosbeaks, the captivity. Dr. Ridgway, in the "Orni- redpolls, the goldfinches, the towhees, the thology of Illinois," writes as follows re- cardinals, the longspurs, and the bunt- garding the habits of a pair : "They were ings, belongto that large family of perch- very tame, and were exceedingly inter- ing birds called the Fringillidae, from the esting little pets. Their movements in the Latin word Fringilla, meaning a finch. cage were like those of caged parrots in Mr. Chapman tells us, in his "Birds every respect, except that they were far of Eastern North America," that "this, more easy and rapid. They clung to the the largest family of birds, contains some sides and upper wires of the cage with five hundred and fifty species, which are their feet, hung down from them, and represented in all parts of the world, ex- . seemed to enjoy the practice of walking cept the Australian region. Its members with their head downward. They were present a wide diversity of form and habit, in full song, and both the male and fe- but generally agree in possessing stout, male were quite good singers. Their conical bills, which are admirably adapt- songs were irregular and varied, but ed to crush seeds. They are thus chief sweet and musical. They ate almost ev- among seed-eaters, and for this reason ery kind of food, but were especially eager are not so migratory as insect-eating for slices of raw apple. Although while species." Many of the birds most they lived they were continually bickering highly prized for the cage and as song- over their food, yet when the female was sters are representatives of this family and accidentally choked by a bit of egg shell many of the species are greatly admired her mate was inconsolable, ceased to sing, for their beautiful coloring. The White- refused his food, and died of grief in a Winged Crossbill is a native of the north- very few days." ern part of North America, migrating Their peculiar bills are especially fitted southward into the United States during for obtaining their food, which consists to the winter months. Its technical name, a great extent of the seeds of cone-bear- Loxia leucoptera, is most appropriate and ing trees, such as the pine, the hemlock descriptive. The generic name Loxia and the spruce. The ornithologist Wil- is derived from the Greek loxos, meaning son says : "On first glancing at the bill crosswise or slanting, and the specific of this extraordinary bird one is apt to name leucoptera is from two Greek pronounce it deformed and monstrous ; works, meaning white and wing, and has but, on attentively observing the use to reference to the white tips of the feathers which it is applied by the owner and the of the wings. The common name, Cross- dexterity with which he detaches the bill, or, as the bird is sometimes called, seeds of the pine-tree from the cone and Crossbeak, describes the peculiar struc- from the husks that inclose them, we are ture of the bill which marks them as per- obliged to confess on this, as on many haps the most peculiar of our song birds, other occasions where we have judged The bill is quite deeply cut at the base and too hastily of the operations of nature, compressed near the tips of the two parts, that no other conformation could have which are quite abruptly bent, one up- been so excellently adapted to the pur- ward and the other downward, so that pose ; and that its deviation from the com- the points cross at an angle of about forty- mon form, instead of being a defect or five degrees. This characteristic gives monstrosity as the celebrated French nat- this bird a parrot-like appearance. The uralist insinuates, is a striking proof of similarity is heightened by the fact that the wisdom of the great Creator." these hook-like bills are used by the birds As an accidental malformation this to assist in climbing from branch to structure of the bill has been noted among branch. other birds, and, it is said, with some fre- lOM COL. f. M. WOODRUFF. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. (Loxia leucoptera.) About % Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1901, BY A W. MUMFORO, CHICAGO. quency among the crows. A mediaeval legend gives as the cause for this con formation of the bill and the red color of the plumage that it was acquired "in rec ognition of the pity it bestowed on the suffering Savior at the Crucifixion." Probably due to the nature of their food, which can usually be procured in any season, these birds are apparently not under the control of the usual laws that govern migration, but wander about in a seemingly aimless manner and are not influenced to any great extent by the changing seasons. They do not seem to be a constant inhabitant of any given lo cality for any length of time, but appear and disappear as if constantly dissatis fied with their surroundings. The two sexes vary in color, the body of themalebeingadull carmine-red, which is brighter on the rump, and that of the female is brownish, tinged with olive- green and with brownish yellow on the rump. The young males are similar in color to the females, but pass through a changeable plumage while maturing. . The Crossbill usually builds its nest in a cone-bearing tree and does not always choose the most inconspicuous locality. The nest is generally constructed of rather coarse twigs and strips of birch or cedar bark and lichens. This is lined with hair, the softer fibers of bark, fine rootlets, grass and feathers. The whole nest is saucer-shaped and about four inches in diameter, outside measurement, by one and one-half in depth. Authorities tell us that the eggs are usually three in number. In color they are a pale blue, nearly spotless at the smaller end, but at the larger end marked with irregular streaks or dots of lavender or reddish- brown. The eggs are small, about eight- tenths of an inch long by nearly six- tenths in diameter. On account of their vagrant habits, Dr. Brehm was wont to call them the "Gypsies" among birds. While seeking food or flying from place to place, they continually utter a plaintive note and their song is soft and sweet. THE LEGEND OF THE CROSSBILL. On the cross the dying Saviour Heavenward lifts his eyelids calm, Feels, but scarcely feels, a trembling In his pierced and bleeding palm. And by all the world forsaken, Sees he how with zealous care At the ruthless nail of iron A little bird is striving there. Stained with blood and never tiring, With its beak it doth not cease, From the cross 'twould free the Saviour, Its Creator's Son release. And the Saviour speaks in mildness: ''Blest be thou of all the good! Bear, as token of this moment, Marks of blood and holy rood!'' And that bird is called the Crossbill; Covered all with blood so clear, In the groves of pine it singeth Songs, like legends, strange to hear. -From the German of Julius Mosen, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. THE STUDY OF BACTERIA. The bacteriologist is working in a wonderland fully as remote to the aver age mind as that ever occupied by the as tronomer or psychologist; and yet it is as real to him as though he were walking through a forest and noting the different kinds of trees. Such popular doubts as have been held regarding bacteriology and even the existence of bacteria are no longer justified. The evidence is too overwhelming not to be accepted by any one who has sufficient interest to investi gate. The methods used in bacteriologic studies are to-day giving us information fully as concise as that obtained by the general botanist in .the study of higher plants. Indeed, the phenomena of bac terial activities and the chemistry of the products of growth of many species of bacteria have already received attention not equaled in the study of some of our most useful plants. Bacteria are plants ; not because of any absolute characteristic that separates them from animals, but because comparative study shows that they are more like plants than animals. They are single- celled organisms and each individual has the prime factors of life, assimilation, growth and reproduction. Each bac terium is an independent cell and al though the cells in some species remain attached to one another, giving rise to characteristic groupings, they are mostly detached and free individuals. Bacteria can increase in numbers to a remarkable extent when favorable conditions exist. The mother-cell simply splits into t\vo daughter-cells and these form a genera tion of four cells, while later generations, consisting of perhaps one million cells, can in fifteen or twenty minutes produce two million bacteria. But conditions must be favorable for this active growth, ample food stuffs, free from other bac teria, together with mosture and reason able warmth are most essential. There are many circumstances constantly at work to prevent an overgrowth of bac teria ; exhaustion of food supply, antag onism of species and fresh air with sun shine, are the most important. Bacteria are present everywhere in greater or less numbers, except within the bodies of healthy, growing plants and animals. It is for this reason that bacteria become so ac tive and multiply with great rapidity when once established in the tissue fluids of larger organisms, either before or after they have died. Vital activities during health prevent the entrance of bacteria into our bodies. There are, however, times when the association of different species of bacteria and also the associa tion of bacteria with higher plants is of mutual advantage. The association of de composition and pathogenic bacteria fre quently makes it possible for the latter to infect an animal, when alone it perhaps would not take place. Again, the growth of certain bacteria within the root-structure of plants greatly improves their functional activity. The leguminuous plants are en abled to assimilate much larger quanti ties of nitrogen when associated with bac teria than when growing alone. No such mutually advantageous relationships are known to exist between bacteria and ani mals ; the tendencies are rather destruc tive, leading to the infectious diseases. The general biologic function of the bac teria is very important and in a general way the need of their existence can be much better appreciated than that of many living beings. Decomposition may be stated as being their chief functional activity. Decomposition stands before life ; without it the progress of the genera tions would terminate. The gradual. and ever rapid disappearance of the substance of vegetable and animal bodies after death makes room for growing life. With an absence of decomposition the bodies of plants and animals would collect on the earth and cover it so deeply with or ganic matter that plants in particular would be entirely unable to obtain requisite nourishment. Higher plants having chlorophyll are able to feed on inorganic material, while bacteria require organic matter to sustain life. Bacterial food is- then derived from the higher forms of life, while these higher forms feed on th< end products of bacterial decomposition, with the addition of salts from the earth, appearance of growth is due to the heap- An evolutionary query might then arise ing up of the individuals. To the naked as to the early conditions in the history of eye the cells are invisible, but the mass is organic life on the earth. It is certainly a recognized in the same way that one fertile field for the theorist. Accepting would know a field of wheat in the dis- the general rule that simplicity of struc- tance without being able to see each sep- ture indicates priority, what then was the arate plant. Species of bacteria are sep- food supply of the primordial bacterium arated by distributing a few organisms before the advent of higher plants to sup- throughout a fluid and then planting upon ply requisite organic matter? We can solid media. The individual cells then hardly believe that there was already in grow in place and produce colonies. existence sufficient ammonia-bearing These are v separate and distinct to the compounds of suitable quality to sustain eye and each contains bacteria, all of the these lowest organisms until evolutionary same kind. From colonies transplanta- conditions added organisms . having the tions to tube cultures are made, and the capacity of collecting nitrogen and car- species is propagated on different media. bon from purely inorganic sources. . The observations from such growths, to- These general facts, as we now see them, gether with the microscopical study dnd would apparently strengthen the thought sometimes inoculation experiments on that different kinds of organisms became animals are the data by which the species extant at the same time. is recognized. Microscopic methods, al- The methods used in bacteriologic though somewhat complicated have been study are based on a few very distinct so far developed that some species of bac- principles. Successful cultivation of bac- teria can be as promptly recognized un- teria depends upon a knowledge of sterili- der the microscope as an acquaintance zation, preparation of culture media and met upon the street. isolation of species. It is in fact minia- Bacteriology is now being studied and ture gardening. A rod of platinum wire investigated as a field of research in hun- is the trowel and this is kept clean and dreds of laboratories, and in every uni- free from undesirable organisms by heat- versity in Europe and America. Bacteriol- ing it red hot in the gas flame. With it ogy has added as much to man's wealth bacteria are lifted from tube or plate. The and happiness as any of the applied culture media required are mostly beef- sciences. All the methods of preservation tea and gelatine mixtures and are pre- of food depend upon bacteriological pared with extreme care as to their com- principles, while modern sanitary science position and reaction. The decomposi- is based on the recognition of the cause tion of the culture medium is prevented by of infectious diseases. The presence of keeping it in test tubes or flasks plugged specific bacteria in the secretions or with cotton and sterilized by boiling. By tissues of man and animals is now such a means of the cotton plug the air passing certainty for many diseases that the work in and out of the tube is filtered and the of making bacteriologic diagnoses is in bacteria floating in the air are caught in itself an extensive vocation. Within the the cotton and cannot get into the tube, next few years every city in America will It also prevents bacteria from the culture have a diagnosis laboratory for infectious getting out of the tube and spreading in- diseases. We can safely predict that the fectious material. Each test tube repre- trained bacteriologist will be called upon sents a little greenhouse, but one that is to stand between each sick person or ani- free from all life ; it is sterile when ready mal and the community to direct meas- for use. To the media or culture soils in ures that will prevent infection of others, the tubes the bacteria are transplanted Hygienists are learning more every day with the platinum rod, and active growth as to the exact way in which disease bac- is obtained by placing the tubes in a suit- teria pass from person to person, and the able temperature. Such a growth of bac- reasons for the occurrence of diseases teria in a test tube can contain many They have learned that the accidental and millions of bacteria, while the resulting unusual circumstance is least important, but that there is a regular train of cause whose deductions are always subject to and effect, and in the knowledge of how the variation of growing things, and not to break this chain is the key to the chemistry or mathematics, with their def- proper control of an epidemic. Veterin- inite determinations and strict limitations, ary medicine has been able to obtain Bacteriology is now an established benefits from bacteriology much beyond science, and it is "as competent to render those already so important to human service in due proportion to its develop- medicine. This is so because of the ment and with the same integrity as any persistent prejudice opposed to bacteriol- biological subject. There are now many ogy in medicine, while the veterinarian known facts in bacteriology that cannot has been allowed to treat his patients be made useful because intermediate practically as the experiment animals are steps in their study have not been learned treated in the laboratory. It will require long series of experiments Bacteriologists are frequently meeting in some cases, but when added to the demands made of their science that are present usefulness of bacteriology the re- beyond its present stage of progress. It suits may be expected to satisfy the most is frequently forgotten that this is biology severe critics. Adolph Gehrmann. THE YELLOW-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. "Come here! come here! come here! My Philip dear, come here! come here! Philip, my dear! Philip, Philip, my dear!" Poor mournful Mrs. Flycatcher, With ample breast of dainty buff, Now don't you think you've called your mate,— To say the very least — enough? I'm sorry for you, plaintive one; I would be glad to make him fly From his long tarrying place to you, If that would stop your weary cry. Can't you decide to give him up? All over town you've called his name; I heard you calling this week, last, The week before you called the same. Perhaps some boy with u twenty-two" Has shot him for his sister's hat. Go! search the churches through and through; If he's not there, accuse the cat. — Carrie B. Sanborn. XA> public If 'REM< FROM COL. CHI. ACAD SCIENCES. 378 TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. (Dendroica townsend ) About Life-size. COPYRIGHT 190 *. W. MUMFORD, ( THE TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. (Dendroica townsendi.) Dr. Robert Ridgway, in the Ornithol- homes in shrubby places, while others are ogy of Illinois, uses the following words seldom found except in forests. As their in speaking of that family of birds called food is practically confined to insects, the American Warblers (Mniotilidae), they frequent our lawns and orchards "No group of birds more deserves the during their migrations, when they fly in epithet of pretty than the Warblers ; Tan- companies which may include several agers are splendid ; Humming-birds are species. Mr. Chapman, in his Handbook refulgent ; other kinds are brilliant, gaudy of Birds of Eastern North America, says, or magnificent, but Warblers alone are "Some species flit actively from branch to pretty in the proper and full sense of that branch, taking their prey from the more term." exposed parts of the twigs and leaves ; As they are full of nervous activity, and others arc gleaners, and carefully explore are "eminently migratory birds," they the under surfaces of leaves or crevices in seem to flit rather than fly through the the bark ; while several, like Flycatchers, United States as they pass northward in capture a large part of their food on the the spring to their breeding places, and wing." southward in the fall to their winter homes The Townsend's Warbler is a native of among the luxuriant forests and planta- Western North America, especially near tions of the tropics. All the species are the Pacific coast. Its range extends from purely American, and as they fly from Sitka on the north to Central America on one extreme to the other of their migra- the south, where it appears during the tory range they remain but a few days in winter. In its migration it wanders as far any intermediate locality. Time seems east as Colorado. It breeds from the to be an important matter with them. It southern border of the United States would seem as if every moment of day- northward, nesting in regions of cone- light was used in the gathering of food bearing trees. It is said that the nest of and the night hours in continuing their this Warbler is usually placed at a con*- journey. siderable height, though at times as low The American Warblers include more as from five to fifteen feet from the than one hundred species grouped in ground. The nest is built of strips of about twenty genera. Of these species fibrous bark, twigs, long grasses and nearly three-fourths are represented in wool, compactly woven together. This is North America at least as summer vis- lined with hair, vegetable down and itants, the remaining species frequenting feathers. only the tropics. Though woodland The eggs are described as buffy white, birds they exhibit many and widely sep- speckled and spotted with reddish brown arated modes of life, some of the species and lilac-gray, about three-fifths of an preferring only aquatic regions, while inch in length by about one-half of an others seek drier soils. Some make their inch in diameter. 11 THE STORY OF SOME BLACK BUGS. We were going to visit Aunt Bessie, and John and I like few -things better than that. To begin with, she lives in the country, and there is always so much to do in the way of fun that the days never seem half long enough. Then, besides, Aunt Bessie knows everything, and can tell such famous stories. So when she asked us one morn ing to go to the pond with her and see something interesting, you may be sure we were not slow in following her. The rushes grew thickly along the sides, but the water was clear, and we could plainly see the black bugs she pointed out to us crawling, slowly and clumsily, over the muddy bottom. "Those things !" said John, not a little disgusted. "I don't think they are much. Are they tadpoles ?" "Tadpoles!" I echoed. "Why, who ever saw tadpoles with six legs and no tail ?" "The absence of a tail is very convinc ing," laughed Aunt Bessie. "They are certainly not tadpoles. Now watch them closely, please, and tell me all about them." "They are abominably ugly. That is one thing," broke in John. "They look black, and have six legs. But how funny their skin is. More like a crust, or lots of crusts laid one on the other. They are about the stupidest things I ever saw. They seem to do nothing but crawl over that mud and — Hello ! they aren't so stu pid, after all. Did you see that fellow snatch a poor fly and gobble him up quicker than you could say Jack Robin son? And there's another taken a mos quito just as quick. I'll take back what I said about the slow business. But really, Auntie, do you think them very interest ing?'; "I'll ask you that question when you have learned something more about them," was her answer. "Tell me now what you think of that Dragon fly darting over the water ?" "Oh, he is a beauty," we answered in a breath. "But please let us hear some thing about those things down there." "Not to-day, boys. I wish you to see something for yourselves first. Watch here for a few days and your patience will be rewarded, I promise you. Then I will have a story to tell you." I knew that Auntie never spoke with out reason, so John and I kept a close watch on those bugs. For two days noth ing happened. The old things just crawled over the mud or ate flies and mosquitoes, as usual. But the third day one big fellow de cided to try something new. It was noth ing less than to creep up the stem of one of the rushes. I suppose it was hard work, for he took a long time to get to the surface of the water. Here he stopped a while and then seemed to make up his mind to go further. Soon he was quite out of the water and could breathe all the air and sunshine he wished. I believe he did not like it very well. He seemed so restless and uneasy. I was expecting to see him go back, when I heard John cry out: "Look ! oh, do look !" I did look, and could scarcely believe my eyes. His skin (the bug's, I mean), was ac tually cracking right down the back, just as though the air and sunshine had dried it too much. Poor fellow, he seemed in great trou ble about it. Then, to make matters worse, a part of his coat broke off at the top and slipped down over his eyes, so that he could not see. After a moment, however, it dropped further, quite under the place where his chin would have been, had he had a chin. "Oh ! he is getting a new face. A pret tier one, too, I am glad to say." It seemed as if John was always first to notice things, for it was just as he said; as the old face slipped away a new one came in its place. I guess that by this time that old bug was as much astonished as we were. He was wriggling about in a very strange fashion, and at last quite wriggled himself out of his old shell. Then we saw two pairs of wings, which must have been folded away in little cases by his side, be gin to open like fans. Next, he stretched 12 his legs, and it was easy to see that they were longer and more beautiful than those he had had before. Then, before we could admire his slen der, graceful body, or fully realize the wonderful change that had occurred in him, he darted away before our aston ished eyes, not a black bug, but a beauti ful Dragon fly. "Hurrah !" we both shouted. The next second we were rushing at top speed to tell Auntie all about it ; just as though she had not known all along what was going to happen. She listened and then told us what we did not know. How months before the mother Drag on-fly had dropped her tiny eggs in the water, where they hatched out the black bugs, which were so unlike their mother that she did not know them for her chil dren, and had no word to say to them during the long hours she spent in skim ming over the water where they lived. These bugs were content at first to live in the mud. But soon came the longing for sun and air. And then followed the wonderful transformation from an ugly black bug to the beautiful dragon-fly. If you will go beside some pond in the spring or early summer, and find among the water grasses such a bug as I have described, and will then watch long enough you wiH see just what John and I saw. Afterwards I am sure you will agree with us that it is very wonderful indeed. Louise Jamison. THE SOLITARY SANDPIPER. He is a curious little chap, the Solitary Snipe, and we used to call him Tip- up. He delights to "see-saw" and "teeter" down a clay bank, with a tiny "peep-po," "peep-po," just before he pokes in his long, slender bill for food. He is very tough, and possesses as many lives as the proverbial cat. I have taken many a shot at him — fine sand-shot at that — and from a gun with a record for scattering, and I never succeeded in knocking over but one Tip-up while on a hunt for taxidermy specimens. I failed to secure even this one, though he flopped over in the water and floated down upon the surface of the shallows toward where I stood, knee-deep awaiting his coming. He was as dead as any bird should have been after such a peppering; yes, he was my prize at last, or so I thought as I reached out my hand to lift his limp-looking little body from the water. He was only play ing possum after all. With a whirl of his wings and a shrill "peep-po," "peep-po," he darted away and disappeared up stream and out of sight beyond the alders. To add to my disappointment a red-headed woodpecker began to pound out a tan talizing tune upon the limb of a dead hemlock. No sand-shot could reach that fellow, desire him as much as I might. Then a bold kingfisher, with a shrill, saucy scream, darted down before me, grabbed a dace and sailed to a branch op posite to enjoy his feast, well knowing, the rascal ! that I had an unloaded gun and had fired my last shell. How he knew this I am not able to say, but he did. Wiser fellows in bird lore than I may be able to explain this. I cannot. The Solitary Sandpiper is well named. He is always at home wherever found, and always travels alone, be it upon the shelving rock-banks of a river or the clay-banks of a rural stream. He pos sesses, after a fashion, the gift of the chameleon and can moderately change the color of his coat, or feathers, rather. When he "teeters" along a blue clay bank he looks blue, and when he "see-saws" along brown or gray rocks he looks gray or brown, as the case may be. The city boy who spends his vacation in the rural parts and fishes for dace, red- fins or sunfish, knows the Solitary Sand piper. To the country boy he is an old acquaintance, for he has taken many a shot, with stone or stick, at the spry little Tip-up, who never fails to escape scot free to "peep-po," "peep-po" at his sweet content. H. S. Keller. 13 THE KNOT OR ROBIN SNIPE. (Tringa canutus.) The Knot or Robin Snipe is a bird of several names, as it is also called the Red- breasted Ash-colored Sandpiper, the Gray-back and the Gray Snipe. It is quite cosmopolitan, breeding in the far north of both hemispheres, but in winter migrating southward and wintering in the climate of the southern United States .and Central America. The Knot belongs •to the Snipe family (Scolopacidae), which .includes one hundred or more species, about forty-five of which are inhabitants •of North America. Nearly all the species 'breed in the higher latitudes of the north ern hemisphere. These birds frequent the shores of large bodies of water and are seldom observed far from their vicin ity. Their bills are long and are used in seeking food in the soft mud of the shore. The Knot visits the great lakes during Its migrations and is frequently obs.erved at that time. Its food, which consists of the smaller crustaceans and shells, can be as readily obtained on the shores of these lakes as on those of the ocean, which it also follows. Dr. Ridgway tells us that "Adult speci mens vary individually in the relative ex tent of the black, gray and reddish colors on the upper parts ; gray usually pre dominates in the spring, the black in mid summer. Sometimes there is no rufous whatever on the upper surface. The cinnamon color of the lower parts also varies in intensity." Little is known of the nest and eggs of the Knot owing to its retiring habits at the nesting time and the fact that it breeds in the region of the Arctic Circle, so lit tle frequented by man. One authentic re port, that of Lieutenant A. W. Greely, describes a single egg that he succeeded in obtaining near Fort Conger while commanding an expedition to Lady Franklin Sound. This egg was a little more than an inch in length and about one inch in diameter. Its color was a "light pea-green, closely spotted with brown in small specks about the size of a pinhead." VIOLA BLANDA. (Sweet White Violet.) Serene the thrush's song, all undisturbed, Its rows of pearls, a marvel of completeness, Then the soft drip of falling tears I heard, Poor weeping bird, who envied so thy sweetness! -Nelly Hart Woodworth. 14 Public Library, I 8 * r? - 0-j H O M THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A BIRD. My name is Dewey, and no bird was iver prouder of his name. I know if Ad- liral Dewey could see me he would feel proud of his namesake, as I am said to be an unusually handsome, intelligent bird. I have been laughing in my wings for many months, hearing people say what kind of a bird I am. Some say I am an oriole ; some a male, others a female ; an other a meadowlark ; another not a mead- owlark, but some kind of lark. One thing they agree upon, that I go on a lark from early morn till "Dewey eve." I am said to have a little of the bluejay, and points like dozens of birds. When I was about six weeks old I was quite large and fluffy, but very much of a baby, for I knew nothing about feeding myself. My tail was long, olive on top, yellow underneath ; wings black, with cream color on the edges — on the lower feathers just a line, on the upper ones quite a lit tle wider, at the top short yellow feathers, making lovely little scallops; head and back olive-brown ; rump more on the yel low ; throat and breast light yellow, with a tinge of blue under the wings, and belly only tinted. As I grew older I kept changing, and now at nine months old my breast is light-orange, belly light-yel low, head and back deeper olive, rump deeper yellow. I broke my tail all off in the fall, and when it came in, the upper feathers were black, with yellow a quar ter of an inch at the rump ; under ones yellow and black. On my head are al most invisible stripes of black, on my neck pretty broken wavy ones. My eyes are large and bright, my bill everyone says is the handsomest they have ever seen, very long and pointed as a needle. Underneath ivory white, on top black, with a white star at the head. The ad miration of all are my legs and claws, as I keep them so clean, and they are a beau tiful blue, just the shade of malachite. I am seven inches long, and f$r the last month have been getting black spots over my eyes and on my throat. Now what kind of a bird am I ? One June afternoon I thought I was old enough to take a walk by myself, so off I started, without asking permission of my father or mother. All went well for awhile, and I was having a delightful time, seeing many new strange things. Then all at once I began to feel very tired and hungry, and thought I would go home, but which way to go I knew not. I went this way and that and peeped as loud as ever I could, calling "Mother! mother !" but no answer came. Finally I sat down, tucked my head under my wing and went to sleep. The next thing I knew something was coming down over me and I was held very tight. I screamed, pecked, and tried my best to get away. Then someone said very gently : "Don't be afraid, little birdie ; I am not going to harm you, but send you to a lady who loves little birds, and will take good care of you." I was dreadfully frightened, but I did not make another peep. We went a long way. Then I heard the little boy say : "Charlotte, will you please take this bird to Miss Bascom, for she was so kind to me when I was sick?" I changed hands, and off we went. Soon I heard some one calling out: "There comes Charlotte with a bird." Then another voice said : "I wonder if it is another sparrow ;" but when she saw me she ex claimed, "What a perfect beauty!" took me in her hand and I knew at once I had found a good friend and new mother. Bread and milk were ordered. Of course, I did not know what bread and milk were, but I was so hungry I could have swal- 17 lowed dirt or stones, so there was no the room a large, striped thing, with shin- trouble about my taking it, and I wished ing, green eyes, and my heart beat so all birds could have such delicious food, fast I could hardly breathe. Tricksey I was taken up-stairs to my new home, whispered in my ear : " You need not be at where everything was in pink and green all afraid ; that is only Taffy, the cat, and and looked so fresh I thought I was back we are the best of friends. Taffy in the clover field. My new mother (for jumped into my new mother's lap, and that is what I mean to call her) took me we three stood on the table and ate bread up to what she called a cage and said : and milk together. The first time I was "Tricksey and Cervera, I want to intro- left in the room alone I looked around to duce you to your new brother." Trick- see what would be nice to play with. First sey charmed me at once, for he was like I W6nt over to the dressing table, carried a ray of sunshine in his dress of gold, but two large cuff-buttons and put them into when I looked at Cervera I laughed right my drinking cup, another pair I put on out in his face. It was very rude, but I the floor of the cage with two large coral know if any of you had been in my place hairpins, two shell pins, and some studs, you would have done the same thing. Of I stuck all the pins on anything I all the ugly specimens of a bird I had could pick up and threw them on the ever seen he was the very worst. He was floor ; turned over a basket which was Tricksey's size, but only had his baby filled with ribbon and lace ; some I left on feathers and one tail feather. He was the floor, and with the rest I trimmed the dirt color, had big staring eyes, and cage. When I heard my new mother such a bill, almost as large as his head, coming I began to tremble. She stood which was perfectly flat. He looked so speechless for a moment, then said : "You common and ill-bred that I wondered rogue of a bird ; how shall I punish you ?" how dainty Tricksey ever sat beside him. Then took me in her hand and kissed me, I was too sleepy to ask any questions and and I knew the future was clear, and was soon fast asleep on my new mother's I could have all the fun I wanted, finger; then was put into a nice little Tricksey had the asthma very bad, and basket filled with cotton. The next day sometimes a little whisky on some sugar Tricksey was very kind to me, but Cer- would relieve him. It was funny to see vera was cross and pecked me every time that bad Cervera maneuvre to get Trick- he got a chance. Tricksey said : "I have sey off the perch so he could eat the tried to be kind to that old Spaniard, Cer- sugar and whisky. Tricksey grew worse vera, but I do not like him and will not instead of better, and one morning my have him snuggle close to me nights, so new mother was wakened early by his I fight him until he gets into the swing, hard breathing. She took him off from If you will sleep in the cage you may his perch and found his claws ice-cold, put your wings close to mine, for you are and he was so weak he could hardly hold so pretty and clean." When bedtime on. He lay in her hand a moment, then came my new mother said I was too large threw back his pretty head and all was for the basket, and I might try sleeping in over. We were all heart-broken and shed the cage, so she put me in and made Cer- many tears, for we were powerless to vera get up into the swing. Just as bring back to life that little bird we loved Tricksey and I were going to sleep Cer- so dearly. I really felt sorry for that vera began swinging with all his might, horrid Cervera. He missed Tricksey, and and would reach down, peck us on the for days seemed to be looking for him. head and pull our feathers out. When he One evening he went out the window, was caught he was taken out and made and we never saw him again. to sleep in the basket. In the morning I am very fond of sweet apples and we were all let out on the floor, and it generally whenever I want anything was amusing to see Cervera mimic ev- that is down-stairs I go and get it. I love erything Tricksey did. If Tricksey took grapes better than any other fruit. When a drink Cervera did, and would follow I want one I hop back and forth on the everywhere he went. back parlor table, then on top of a high About that time I saw coming into back chair and tease until one is given to 18 me. I like best to have my new table to my grandmother's plate, hop on mother hold a grape in her right hand the edge, and see if she has anything I while I perch on her left and suck all the like. When dinner was ready to be rich, sweet juice next the skin out first ; served I went over on the sideboard, then I take the grape over on the table made holes in all the butter balls, then on a paper and knock it until all the seeds took some mashed potato and boiled on- come out before I eat it. I like bananas, ion and put them to cool in a big hole I too, and go to the fruit dish and open one had made in an apple. Few people know myself. Every morning I perch on the that birds are ever sick at their stomachs, plate or finger-bowl and eat my orange. I had been in the habit of eating a little We usually have our orange in our shaved hickorynut that was put in a half room, and sometimes I get so impatient shell and kept in a dish on the back parlor I fly over to the bed, back to the orange, table. When I came down stairs I usual- and beg my new mother to get up. I al- ly took a taste, and it seemed to agree ways take a drink out of the finger bowl with me. For a change I ate a little chest- and often said to myself, "What a fine nut, and soon began to feel bad, so bathtub this would make." When fall went off by myself and tried to go to came I began going to bed at 5 o'clock, sleep. When my new mother saw me she and at 7 was awakened and taken out to said she knew I was not well, for I never dessert. One night I became tired of wait- acted that way in the daytime. She put ing and went out into the .dining-room me in my cage, and sat down beside me. very quietly, and the first thing I spied I would close my eyes and open my bill, was a finger-bowL so thought that was and she thought I was dying until I open- just the time for a bath. In I went. They ed my bill very wide and out came the heard the splashing and looked up to see chestnut in a lump a half inch long and a everything as well as myself soaking wet. quarter wide. Of course they thought it very cunning, My mother's writing desk is a fa- but after I did it for three nights I was vorite place of mine. I get into drawers, told two baths a day were too much for pigeon holes and ink ; pictures arid all me. I made up my mind if I could not sorts of small things I throw on the floor, take a bath in the finger-bowl at night, I Once I stole ever so many dimes and would in the morning and, as I refused to pennies. I can lift a silver dollar and go near my old bathtub, the bowl was often carry a coffee-spoon all about the given me for my own. There was a room, so you see I have a very strong bill, bowl of Wandering Jew on the dining- If anything is lost all say "Dewey must table, and several times I took a bath in have taken it." One day my new mother the center. All said I made a beautiful looked until she was tired for her thim- picture, but when they found I was tear- ble. When she asked me for it, I pretend ing the vine all to pieces it was not so ed I did not hear, but as she was going pretty and many lectures were given to into the dining-room I dropped it down me, but I heeded them not, and if taken on her head from the top of the portiere, away I would walk (for I can walk as well I often perch on a basket on top of the as hop) all over the table on the ends of book case in the writing room. When I my toes and look every way but towards saw a new white veil beside me I went to the bowl ; then, when no one was looking, work and made ten of the prettiest eyelet grab a piece and take it up on top of a holes you can imagine, right in front; picture. One day I trimmed all of the pic- some were round and some star-shaped, tures, and there was none left in the As I grew older I said, "I will not sleep bowl, so I had to look up some other mis- in my cage." For a few nights I insisted chief. upon sleeping on the brass rod at the When I go out to dinner I have my own head of the bed, then changed to the top little table cloth and plate put by my new of the curtain. I have a piece of soft flan- mother's. I usually take a little of ev- nel over some cotton put on the ledge erything; chicken and cranberry jelly is and on the wall, so I will not take cold, very good. Sometimes I do not behave If it is very cold I get behind the frill of very well, for I go tiptoeing across the the curtain, so no one can see me. If 19 warm I turn around so my tail hangs over my new mother was very ill and had to the outside. When my new mother comes send for a strange physician, who knew in I open my eyes, make a bow, and, if nothing about me. When I heard him not too sleepy, come down and sit on her coming upstairs I hid behind the curtain hand. I never chirp or peep, and when and watched him fix a white powder in a I hide and hear "Dewey," Dewey," I do paper. When he laid it on the table I not answer but fly down on my new moth- swoopeld down, grabbed it and took it er's head, shoulder or hand. Taffy gets into my cage. After that I was kept busy, so angry at me. I know he often feels as my grandmother was ill for many like killing me. I wake up early morn- weeks. I would carry off all the sleeping ings, and take my exercise by flying back powders ; one day I put them behind the and forth from a picture on one side of bed, for I thought they would not taste the room to the head of the bed. When so badly, and do just as much good. Taffy is on the foot of the bed I fly very It did not take more than a minute to low, almost touching him with my wings, get down there when I heard the doctor and say, "You lazy cat, why don't you come in, for I had to see that the medicine wake up and hear the little birds sing to was mixed all right. It was great fun God Almighty ; why don't you wake up ?" peering into the tiny little bottles in his I soon hear words that are not used in case. I would stand on the ends of my polite society, and next see the end of his toes and crane my neck to watch him tail disappearing around the corner of the drop the medicine into the tumblers. The door. Before I go to sleep at night I ex- other day some Christmas roses were ercise again. One afternoon Taffy was brought in. They looked so tempting I trying to take a nap in a chair in the back took several bites, and the next day took parlor. I kept flying over him, making a some more. I felt a little queer, and kept whizzing sound with my wings. When opening my bill. My new mother thought he could endure it no longer he went into I had something in my throat and gave the writing-room and sat down by his me some water. The next afternoon she mother. I went in to take a luncheon on found me on the floor panting, took me to the table. Taffy stood up on his hind legs, an open window, gave me wine and the reached out a velvet paw, and gave me attack seemed to pass. We went up to such a slap I fell upon the floor. I was our room, and apparently I was as well not hurt in the least, flew up on a picture as ever when she went down to dinner, and shook with laughter at the punish- After she had gone another attack came ment and scolding Mr. Taffy was getting, on and I am too weak to write any more, He said very naughty words, scratched and can only warn little birds never to and bit, but he was conquered at last, and taste of a Christmas rose, as they are said has behaved like a gentleman ever since, to be deadly poison. The first time I saw the snow I was wild with delight, flew to the window and tried When I went to my room late in the to catch the pretty white flakes. But evening no little birdie peeped over the when I heard the sleigh bells they struck curtain to greet me. I looked on the terror to my heart, for I thought a whole floor, and there lay my darling Dewey, army of cats was coming, as all I knew stiff and cold, about bells are Taffy's. Not long ago Caroline Crowninshield Bascom. 20 FROM COL. CH 380 ACAO. SCIENCES. AMERICAN HAWK OWL. tSurnia ulula caparocix.) COPVRIGI . w. MUMF THE AMERICAN HAWK OWL. (Surnia ulula caparoch:} The typical form of this owl (Surnia ulula) is a native of Scandinavia and Northern Russia, and incidentally is a visitor to Western Alaska. We are told by Mr. L. M. Turner, who was stationed by the United States Signal Service in Alaska from 1874 to 1881, that the na tives assert that this form is "a resident, and breeds in the vicinity of St. Michaels ; also that it is a coast bird, i. e., not going far into the interior, and that it can live a long time in winter without food, as it remains for days in the protection of the holes about the tangled roots of the wil low and alder patches." Its true breed ing range, however, is the northern por tion of the Eastern hemisphere. It is somewhat larger and lighter in color than the American Hawk Owl. The bird of our illustration, the Ameri can Hawk Owl, is simplv a geographical variety of the Old World form, and is a native of northern North America, from Alaska to Newfoundland. This is its usual breeding range, though it migrates in winter to the northern border of the United States, and is an occasional vis itor, during severe winters, as far south as Maine and Idaho. It is much more common in the northern portion of its range. Unlike the other owls, as we usually understand their habits, it may be con sidered as strictly diurnal, seeking its prey, to a great extent at least, during daylight, usually during the early morning or even ing hours. Its principal food consists of the various species of rodents, insects and small birds. Its southward migration is caused by that of its food species, espe cially that of the lemmings. It is a tame bird and may be said to know no fear. We are told by Dr. A. K. Fisher that "specimens have been known to return to the same perch after being shot at two or three times. It is a cour ageous bird, and will defend its nest against all intruders. A male once dashed at Dr. Dall and knocked off his hat as he was climbing to the nest; other similar accounts show that the courage displayed on this occasion was not an individual freak, but a common trait of the species." Not alone in its diurnal habits is it like the hawks, but it also resembles some of them in selecting the dead branch of a tall tree in some sightly locality from which to watch for its prey. From this position it will swoop down hawk-like. Like the hawks its flight is swift and yet noiseless, a characteristic which is com mon to all the owls. As a rule its note, which is a sharp, shrill cry, is only sounded when flying. As a nesting site, hollow trees are more frequently chosen. However, nests built of twigs and lined with grass are not infre quent. These are usually placed on the tops of stumps or among the branches of dense cone-bearing trees. The number of eggs varies from three to seven, and are frequentlv laid long before the ice and snow have disappeared. "The eggs vary from oval to oblong oval in shape, are pure white in color, and somewhat glossy, the shell is smooth and fine-grained." In cubation begins as soon as the first egg is laid, and both sexes participate in this duty, and occasionally both are found on the nest at the same time. At the nest ing season the courage of both sexes is very marked. The male will fight with its talons, and even when wounded will still defend itself. We are told by Mr. Gentry that "calmly and silently it main tains its ground, or springs from a short distance on its foe. So, bravely it dies, without thought of glory and without a chance of fame ; for of its kind there are no cowards." This bird, like the other species of owls, though possibly not to so great an extent because of its diurnal habits, is looked upon by the Indian tribes as a bird of ill omen and by some tribes all owls are called "death birds." As a whole,, the hawk owls are perhaps more useful to man than any other birds that are not used as food. They cause but little trou ble in the poultry yard and are of in calculable value to the farmer because of the large number of small rodents that they destroy. - 23 A BIRD CALENDAR BY THE POETS. January. This is not the month of singing birds. "Silently overhead the hen-hawk sails With watchful, measuring eye, and for his quarry waits." — Lowell February. Sometimes a flock of strange birds de scends upon us from the north — the cross bills. There is an old tradition that the red upon their breast was caused by the blood of our Saviour, as they sought to free Him with their bills from the cross. "And that bird is called the Crossbill, Covered all with blood so dear, In the groves of pine it singeth Songs, like legends, strange to hear." — Longfellow. March. No birds are more closely associated with early spring than the swallows. "Gallant and gay in their doublets grey, All at a flash like the darting of flame, Chattering Arabic, African, Indian — Certain of springtime, the swallows .came. Doublets of grey silk and surcoats of purple, Ruffs of russet round each little throat, Wearing such garb, they had crossed the waters, Mariners sailing with never a boat." — Sir Edwin Arnold. April. "Winged lute that we call a Bluebird, You blend in a silver strain, The sound of the laughing waters, The sound of spring's sweet rain, "The voice of the wind, the sunshine And fragrance of blossoming things. Ah, you are a poem of April That God endowed with wings." May. This is the month of the Bobolinks. "Merrily, merrily, there they hie ; Now they rise and now they fly ; They cross and turn and in and out, And down the middle and wheel about, With Thew, shew, Wadolincoln ; listen to me Bobolincoln !' Happy's the wooing that's speedily do ing, That's merry and over with bloom of the clover, Bobolincoln, Wadolincoln, Winterseebee, follow me." June. "Then sings the Robin, he who wears A sunset memory on his breast, Pouring his vesper hymns and prayers ' To the red shrine of the West." July. The full tide of song is on the ebb, but you still hear in the shadowy woods the silvery notes of — "The wise Thrush, who sings his song twice over, Lest you should think he never could re capture That first fine careless rapture." — Browning. August. The humming-bird. "When the mild gold stars flower out, As the summer gloaming goes, A dim shape quivers about . Some sweet rich heart of a rose. "Then you, by thoughts of it stirred, Still dreamily question them, Ts it a gem, half bird, Or is it a bird, half gem ?' ' — Edgar Fawcett. September. There is something wistful in the notes of the birds preparing to depart. In the woods we see — 24 "A little bird in suit Of sombre olive, soft and brown, With greenish gold its vest is fringed, Its tiny cap is ebon-tinged, With ivory pale its wings are barred, And its dark eyes are tender starred. 'Dear bird/ I said, 'what is thy name?' And thrice the mournful answer came, So faint and far and yet so near — Tewee ! Pewee ! Pewee !' ' — Trowbridge. October. This brown month surely belong to the sparrows. "Close beside my garden gate Hops the sparrow, light, sedate." * * * "There he seems to peek and peer, And to twitter, too, and tilt The bare branches in betweeen With a fond, familiar mien." — Lathrop. November. In cold weather the little gray Chicka dee cheers us with his "tiny voice" — "Gay and polite, a cheerful cry, Chick-chickadedee ! Saucy note, Out of sound heart and merry throat ! This scrap of valor, just for play, Fronts the north wind with waistcoat gray." — Emerson. December. The sleep of the earth has begun under the white, thick snow. The Owl is abroad by night — "A flitting shape of fluffy down In the shadow of the woods, Tu-wit! tu-whoo!' I wish I knew; Tell me the riddle, I beg— Whether the egg was before the Owl Or the Owl before the egg?" Arranged by Ella F. Mosby. So when the night falls and the dogs do howl, Sing ho! for the reign of the horned owl. We know not alway Who are kings by day, But the king of the night is the bold brown owl. • —Barry Cornwall. 25 THE OYSTER AND ITS RELATIVES. Of all the grand divisions of the Anima-1 The lowest branch of . Mollusca is Kingdom, the subkingdom Mollusca is known as class Pelecypoda, which corn- probably the least known to the ordinary prises all of the different kinds of clams, observer, and if one were asked to enu- mussels, quahaugs, etc., in which the merate as many different kinds of "shell body is protected by two hard, calcareous fish" as he could, it is probable that not shells placed, generally, opposite each over six or eight different varieties would other and connected on the upper mar- be named. The majority of people think gin by a ligament, and the two valves of a clam, oyster, mussel, snail or Nautilus work back and forth in teeth and sockets, and their molluscan vocabulary ends with making a kind of hinge. A set of stout these names. And yet this group of ani- adductor muscles keep the two shells or mals is second only to the insects in num- valves together and allow them to open ber of different species, beauty of colora- and close at the will of the animal. The tion and interest of habitat. They may be majority of clams live in the mud in a found everywhere, in salt and fresh water, horizontal position, the anterior end be- in our forests and fields, our ponds, ing buried and the posterior end, con- brooks and rivers ; in the valleys and on taining the siphons which draw in and ex- the mountain tops, and even in the waters pel the water, being out of the mud, in the of the frozen north, while in the warm water. The clam progresses by pushing waters of the tropics they flourish in un- forward its strong, muscular foot, getting counted millions. In size they range from a firm hold of the mud and then drawing the little sea-snails hidden in the eel grass the shell after it. Some pelecypods, as along the shore, with tiny shells scarcely the oyster, live attached to some object an eighth of an inch in length, to the on the bottom of the water, as a stone, giant squid, which measures forty feet piece of wood or piling of an old wharf, or more from the tip of its tail to the end and are not able to travel from place to of its long arms ; and they range from the place as are the true clams, examples of tide-washed beach to the abyssal depths the latter being fresh water mussels and of the ocean. It is to these lowly crea- the marine quahaug or round clam, tures that I would draw the reader's at- Some bivalves also attach themselves tention. by a byssus composed of a number of In nearly all the species of the Mollusca silk-like threads, which anchor their the animal is protected by a hard shell, shells to stones, sticks, and other foreign made of carbonate of lime, which is cov- objects. In one group (genus Pinna) ered with a horny epidermis to protect found in the Mediterranean Sea, this the limy shell from being dissolved by byssus is so fine and silky that the Ital- the acids in the water. This shell is gen- ians weave it with silk and make caps, erally capable of containing the entire gloves and other articles of wearing ap- animal, thus affording, in most cases, ad- parel. equate protection for the soft body. Another wonderful and interesting ar- Those animals not provided with a shell, rangement for the comfort of the animal as is the case with the land slugs, are ca- is its breathing organs or branchiae, pable of covering themselves with a sort These are two or four in number, and are of mucus which encysts and protects made up of numerous small chambers, them from both extreme heat and cold. covered with little whip-like organs or 26 cilia, which keep up a constant motion, creating currents of water, bring- thou sands oi minute organisms to the clam to serve as food. These little organisms, many of them microscopic, are caught upon the surfaces of the gills, rolled into little masses, and passed into the animal's mouth. Besides being food-gatherers, the gills serve to keep up a circulation by which fresh water is constantly brought in to purify and aerate the blood and also to expel the waste products. There is no head in this class, and the mouth is an oval slit surrounded by four lips or palp., and leads almost directly into the stom ach. The currents of water spoken of above are controlled and directed in several dif ferent ways. In attached forms, and those living above the surface of the mud, like the oyster, mussel and scallop, the soft mantle which lines the shell is divid ed, forming a slit n-early the whole diam eter of the shell, and the water is allowed to circulate freely through the open edges of the shells. But in those animals which burrow in the mud, as the common little neck clam, fresh water clam and quahaug, this mantle is closed and prolonged pos teriorly into one double or two single siphons or tubes, one being- fringed with little finger-like cilia and drawing in the water by their motion, and the other ex pelling the water after it has circulated through the animal. One of the most attractive families of bivalve shells is the Veneridae, or venus shells, in which the shelly skeleton is or namented by many bright colors, the pat terns occurring in spots, dashes, zigzag lines and rays. Some varieties, as the spiny venus (Cytheria lupinaria) have the posterior end of the shell provided with long, sharp, curved spines, and the shell is also frilled in a beautiful manner. The common quahaug (round or hard-shelled clam), which is esteemed an article of diet on the Atlantic coast, and also to some extent in the interior, is a prominent member of this family. The Veneridae comprise some five hundred species, found throughout the world, and ranging from the shore between tides to several hundred fathoms in depth. The family Cardiidae, the heart-shells or cockles, comprise some of the largest and most attractive of mollusks. The name Cardium, signifying a heart, is given them because of the close resem blance to that organ when a shell is view ed from the anterior end. These animals live in sandy or muddy bays, and gener ally congregate by thousands. In En gland, the edible cockle (Cardium edule) is considered quite a delicacy and thou sands are used for this purpose. In our own country they are not generally eaten, except by the poor in Florida and in some places along the Gulf of Mexico, but the waters of Florida furnish some very handsome species, among them the Car dium isocardia figured on our plate, and the large Cardium magnum, which grows to a length of five inches and whose shell is ornamented by beautiful color-patterns of brown and yellow. The foot of the Cardium is very peculiar, being shaped like a sickle, which enables the animal to pull itself along at a lively gait. A Cali fornia cockle (Liocardium elatum) grows to a diameter of seven inches and would furnish a meal for several people. In the family Tridacuidae size seems to have reached its limit. Tridacena gigas, found in the Indian Ocean, grows to a length of nearly six feet and weighs up wards of eight hundred pounds. Tryon records that a pair of these shells, weigh ing five hundred pounds, and two feet in diameter, are used as benetiers in the church of St. Sulpice, Paris. In some parts of the Indian Ocean, where pear' and sponge-fishing are carried on, this clam (known as the giant clam), is a source of great danger to the divers, many losing their lives by being caught between the great valves of the shell, by either hands or feet. Many times a diver has amputated his fingers, hand or foot, and thus saved his life at the expense of one or more of these members. The Tellinas (family Tellinidae) num ber among its five hundred or more spe cies some very beautiful and interesting animals. They live for the most part buried in sand or sandy mud and are found throughout the entire world. Our common Tellina radiata, familiarly called sunshell, is found in Flor ida and the West Indies, and a typical valve looks not unlike the horizon at sunrise, the brilliant rays of color spreading in different directions the sands of Lake Michigan and scooped from a common center. At Newport, up the little grains with the broken half Rhode Island, the writer has gathered of a clam shell ? Or who, wading in the many thousand specimens of a beautiful muddy water of Lake Calumet, has not little Tellen (Tellina tenera), whose shell wondered what the curious little hollow, measures scarcely half an inch in diame- fringed objects were which protruded ter and is tinted a lovely pink or pinkish from the surface of the mud ? These lat- white. The siphons of this family are ter were the siphons of the clam and if very long and are separated, the upper you were to dig under them a little way one being half or three-quarters as long you would find the beautiful green-rayed as the lower one, and the foot is rather shell of a river mussel. These are no less long and pointed, admirably adapted for interesting than the marine shells already burrowing. The long siphons enable the described and in beauty of ornamentation animal to bury itself to quite a depth be- they frequently excel many of their salt- neath the surface of the sand. water relatives. Such excrescences as Closely related to the Tellinidae is the knobs, spines and rib-like undulations are Psammobiidae, a characteristic form of common, while the colors of the interior which (Psammobia rubroradiata) is thus range from pure silvery white through spoken of by Prof. Josiah Keep, in his in- orange, pink and salmon to dark purple, teresting little book, "West Coast Shells :" and the rich, pearly iridescence rivals that "But I wanted to see more of him, so I of any of the marine shells. In many took a large jar, filled it half full of beach parts of the West mussels are collected by sand, added as much sea-water as it men in search of pearls, which are gen- would hold, and plunged my prize into erally of an inferior quality, and thou- the same. He rested quietly for a few sands of shells are used annually in the minutes, and then began to open his shell manufacture of pearl buttons, and cautiously put out his two siphons. One of the most familiar objects to the Soon afterward, from between the edges seaside visitor is the huge banks of sea- of his shells, came his big, white, spade- mussels (Mytilus) which line the shore shaped foot. He drove it down into the at low water. The shells are generally sand, curved it a little to one side, gave dark-colored, our common mussel (Myti- a vigorous pull, and lo ! his shell followed, lus edulis) being frequently jet black, and though just why I could not clearly under- are more or less wedge-shaped in form, stand. Though the jar was large he They attach themselves to mud banks and reached the bottom before his shell was shore vegetation by a strong byssus made vjholly covered with sand, and had to up of stout, more or less silky threads, content himself with a half-above-ground The mussels are of great value econom- tenement." ically, thousands of bushels of the edible "Next morning his siphons were mussel (Mytilus edulis) being consumed stretched out some six inches in length, annually in Europe. They are also used * * I never thought before that as bait, and millions of the mussels are there was any particular beauty to the thus used every year. Although consid- siphons of a clam, but for this red-lined ered a delicacy in parts of Great Britain one my opinions quickly changed. Im- and Europe, it has not yet been adopted agine two tubes made of the finest pink as an article of diet in this country, the and white silk, stretched over delicate clam and quahaug taking its place, hoops arranged at regular intervals ; then The family Aviculidae, comprising the think of them as endowed with life, and wing-shells or pearl oysters, is of great waving with a graceful motion through interest, both scientifically and economic- the water, and^ you will have a faint idea ally. At the present time there are a lit- of their exquisite texture and elegant ap- tie over one hundred species living, but pearance." the family has been known from early To those readers who live in the West, geological times and over a thousand away from the ocean, the Unio, or fresh- species have been found • in the rocks, water mussel, is more or less familiar. The pearl-oyster (Melleagrina margariti- What child in Chicago has not played on fera) is the most important member of 30 this family, furnishing as it does the beau- tail, is quite bewildering. In Europe, the tiful pearls of commerce. These animals scallop is considered quite a delicacy and are found at Madagascar, Ceylon and several tons are gathered annually. One other parts of the Indian Ocean, several species (Pecten jacobaeus) has been dig- hundred tons being imported into Europe nified as a badge of several orders of annually. These pearls are formed by knighthood and it was also worn by pil- some irritating substance, as a grain of grims to the Holy Land a good many sand or some parasite, getting in between years ago. It was called "St. James' the shell and the animal, or lodging in Shell." some soft part, which causes the animal The most common shell to the layman to cover it with pearly matter to prevent is the oyster (Ostrea virginica), the culti- irritation. The shells also furnish a con- vation of which occupies the attention of siderable part of the "mother-o'-pearl" a large number of men and the invest- which is so largely used for ornamental ment of considerable capital. The oyster purposes. The Margaritifera radiata, fig- is free and active when young, but be- ured on our plate, is a member of this comes attached to some submerged ob- family. ject early in life. Oyster culturists take The scallop is an object well known to advantage of this habit by erecting poles the tourist visiting New England sum- in the water to which the young oysters mer resorts, who has reveled in "fried attach themselves. The shells of the dif- scallops." The family to which this be- ferent species of oyster are not generally longs (Pectinidae) is composed of round- of much beauty, but a related family, the ed shells, many with frills or ribs and Spondylidae, or spiny oysters, are among nearly all ornamented with beautiful col- the most beautiful of bivalves. In this ors. Unlike the animals which we have family the shell is ornamented by many been considering, these mollusks have no long spines and frills, and the colors are siphons and the shell is open all the way different shades of red, yellow anc^.pink. around save at. the hinge, and the edge The most beautiful species are forind in of the mantle is provided with little, the Gulf of California, round, black eyes. It is an interesting The space at our command is far too sight to observe a beach at low water, the limited to adequately discuss the many receding tide having left on the shore or curious and interesting animals which in little pools of water hundreds of these make up the class Pelecypoda. Much mollusks, attached by a byssus to bits of might be said of the Solen or razor-shell, sea weed. As one is gazing wonderingly with its curious foot which is so great a over this vast field of yellow sand and help in digging burrows ; of the Pholads, green weed, an object will suddenly move which perforate and make burrows in through a pool of water with astonishing clay, wood and even in the hardest rock ; rapidity, accompanying the movement by and of the strange Teredo or "ship- a quick snapping sound. This is the worm," with a long, worm-like body scallop, which is imprisoned in the pool which bores into ships, wharves and any and which desires to get out. The move- wooden object within reach. But enough ment is effected by rapidly closing and has been written and pictured to show the opening the two valves of the shell, there- reader that the unpretentious clam, mus- by causing a clicking sound. The noise sel or oyster and their relatives have of several hundred of these shells open- many interesting habits, are encased in ing and closing and the sight of as many beautiful shells, and that some species are scallops with strings of sea weed attached of great economic importance to man. to them, shooting through the water, Frank Collins Baker, looking not unlike a comet with a long 31 THE PASSING OF SUMMER. Where have the charms of summer gone? Part of its sunny, azure skies The bluebirds southward bore away, And how could sunset splendors stay, Or glory of the early dawn, When not a tanager now vies With orange-flaming orioles, And humming-birds no magic bowls Of nectar drain in gardens fair, Or flash like jewels through the air? Where have the summer's beauties flowri? Afar on swallows' purple wings; With blackbirds' iridescent throats, And with the thrushes' perfect notes Of rapture into music grown; With blue the indigo bunting brings, A sapphire set with emerald leaves, And finch-gold that June interweaves With silver from the kingbird's breast And studs with pearls of many a nest. When will the summer come again? When olive warblers northward fly, And to their hints of budding green The grosbeaks add a rosy sheen Of warming skies: O, not till then Will summer come and winter die! -Benjamin Karr. 32 •TTp THE COLLARED LIZARD. (Crotaphytus collaris.} The Collared or Ring-necked Lizard the rattlesnakes. The only place where I may be found among the rocks and open found them abundant was between Vine- woods of the plateau or in desert regions land and the old Kingston mines. Dur- from southern Missouri southward into ing the hot summer months they make Mexico, westward to southeastern Cali- their appearance upon the broad slabs of fornia and northward to southern Idaho, rock, often quite a distance from their However, this is its general range, and it lairs. When disturbed they make a dash is not common over all this territory, to escape and usually in the direction that Though it has been known to ascend to leads to their accustomed crevice, even an altitude o'f nearly six thousand feet, though the intruder is in its path. I yet it does not seem to have crossed the have had them run almost across my feet Sierra Nevada range, as it has not been in their frantic efforts to hide. They are observed at any point on the Pacific coast a somewhat terrifying object as they run or the interior of California. toward you. At this time they apparent- The Collared Lizard is so called be- ly assume a partly upright position, cause of the black bars, which resemble a looking for all the world like a small edi- collar, and are situated between the fore tion of Mephistopheles. The negroes are legs and extend across the back of the mortally afraid of them. They call them animal. They vary greatly in color, de- 'Glade Devils,' and the more supersti- pending-on their age or geographical po- tious believe that the souls of the very sition. The back is usually some shade bad negroes reside in them. A negro will of dull or rather dark green, or it may never go through a glade frequented by have a bluish cast, with numerous oblong this species, and will make a long detour or rounded lighter spots, which may be to avoid doing so. The only time I ever either whitish, or various shades of red, saw a negro 'turn gray' was when I orange or yellow. These spots may be brought one of these lizards to Ironton quite definite or they may form quite con- and asked for assistance in capturing it tinuous bands. The variations in color when it escaped. They are so swift in are much more marked in the young. their movements that I found the best Dr. Cope tells us that "it runs very method of capturing them was by tying a swiftly, carrying the tail over its back. In noose of fine copper wire to a fish pole. its manners it is perhaps the most pug- This can be slipped over their heads, as nacious of our lizards, opening its mouth they lie sunning themselves, as they seem when cornered, and biting savagely. Its to pay but little attention to the loop as it sharp teeth can do no more than slightly touches them. By exercising caution it cut the skin." is possible to approach from the rear to Mr. Frank M. Woodruff relates the within eight or ten feet without exciting following interesting account of his ex- them. They make delightful pets, if a periences with this lizard : "I found the lizard can be considered such. By feed- Collared Lizard at three points in Mis- ing them through the winter on meal souri — Yineland, DeSoto and Pilot Knob, worms and in the summer on flies and They are restricted to the rocky slades, grasshoppers they can be kept for a year where they live with the scorpions and or more." 35 A NIGHT IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. A FAIRY STORY. The day had passed and the sun had that to-night the Fairy Queen was to gone to sleep in a bed of crimson and come to the garden and would give a soul gold. The wind blew softly, at which the to some flower ; which one they did not leaves on the great trees in the garden be- know but hoped it would be to them, gan to murmur; though it was evening A little Humming Bird had brought they were not sleepy like some of the the news and had told it only to the flowers who thought it time to go to Sweet Peas, so they thought it must be sleep when the sun did. Sometimes the for them that this beautiful change was to leaves were awake all night ; you could come. Had they not heard that years ago hear them moving gently in the breeze, a sweet flower called Narcissus had been The clover leaves were folded close in changed into a beautiful youth, e results that man has a other birds and poultry. To these two friend in these birds that is of inestima- the name chicken hawk may be aptly ble value to him: applied. The domestic pigeon is a dainty The use of falcons and Hawks in the morsel for these ravagers of the barn- chase dates far back in the history of the yard. On the other hand, by far the larger Old World. For ages it was one of the 50 principal sports of mankind and espe- graphical races are given varietal names, cially of the nobility. Hawks may be The duck hawk (Falco peregrinus ana- trained to a high degree of efficiency in turn) is one of the representatives in the capturing of other birds. It is said America. "The food of this hawk con- that the Chinese knew of this character- sists almost exclusively of birds, of which istic of the Hawks at least two thousand water-fowl and1 shore birds form the years before the time of Christ. In Japan greater part." the art of falconry was practiced about The Hawks of our illustration are na- six or seven hundred years before Christ, tives of North America ranging from The art is also believed to be repre- Mexico northward. The American sented in a bas-relief found in the Khor- Rough-legged Hawk (Archibuteo lago- sahad ruins in which a falconer is appar- pus sancti-johannis) is a geographical ently bearing a hawk on his wrist. Thus variety of a rough-legged form that is these ancient ruins of Nineveh show that found in northern Europe and Asia. It the art must have been known at least is also known by the names of Black seventeen hundred years before Christ. Rough-legged and Black Hawk. That falconry was known to the an- This Hawk is one of the largest and cient races of Africa is highly probable, most attractive of all the species of North though there is but little in the earlier America. Dr. Fisher tells us that "it is written history of that continent regard- mild and gentle in disposition, and even ing it. Egyptian carvings and drawings, when adult may be tamed in the course however, indicate without a doubt that of a few days so that it will take food the art was there known centuries ago. from the hand and allow its head and Falconry is still practiced to some extent back to be stroked. When caged with in Africa. other species of hawks, it does not as a The art, though not obsolete in those rule fight for the food, but waits until •countries of Europe where, in the mid- the others have finished, before it begins die ages, it was regarded as the greatest to eat." •and most noble of all sports, is not na- In spite of its large size and apparent tional in its character. During the reign strength it does not exhibit the spirit that of William the Conqueror laws were en- is so characteristic of the falcons. It preys acted in England which were most strin- almost entirely on field mice and other gent regarding falconry. At one time rodents, frogs- and probably, at times "falcons and hawks were allotted to de- and in certain localities, upon insects grees and orders of men according to especially the grasshoppers. It is said rank and station, to royalty the jerfalcon, that they will feed upon lizards, snakes to an earl the peregrine, to a yeoman the and toads. They do not molest the poul- goshawk, to a priest the sparrow-hawk, try of the farmer or the game birds of the and to a knave or servant the useless kes- field, forest or of our water courses, at trel." least not to any extent. Their size and To train a hawk for this sport requires their slow and heavy flight would nearly great skill and patience. The temper, always give sufficient warning to permit disposition and, in fact, every peculiarity the ordinary fowls to seek cover, of each individual bird must be carefully No better evidence as to the character studied. In these respects it may be said of its food can be furnished than the re- that no two birds are exactly alike. Tech- suits of the examination of forty-nine nically the name falcon, as used by the stomachs as related by Dr. 'Fisher. Of falconer, is applied only to the female of these forty contained mice ; five, other the various species used in the conduct- mammals; one, lizards; one, the remains ing of this sport. of seventy insects (this specimen was The peregrine falcon or hawk is us-- killed in Nebraska) ; and four, were ually accepted as the type falcon of fal- empty. It is interesting to note "that the •conry. The name peregrine, from the southern limit of its wanderings in win- Latin peregrinus, means wandering, and ter is nearly coincident with the south- refers to the fact that this species is al- ern boundary of the region Inhabited by most cosmopolitan, though the geo- meadow mice " S3 Sir John Richardson1 says, "In the soft- other birds; two hundred and seventy- ness and fullness of its plumage, its feath- eight contained mice; one hundred and ered legs and habits, this bird bears some thirty-one, other mammals ; thirty-seven, resemblance to the owls. It flies slowly, frogs and related animals or reptiles ; for- sits for a long time on the bough of a ty-seven, insects; eight, crawfish; one, tree, watching for mice, frogs, etc., and centipedes ; thirteen, offal, and eighty- is often seen sailing over swampy pieces nine were empty. This surely is not a of ground', and hunting for its prey by bad showing for this bird, so often ma- the subdued daylight, which illuminates ligned by being called "hen" or "chick- even the midnight hours in the high par- en-hawk." Its preferred food is evi- allels of latitude." Mr. Ridgway says, dently the smaller mammals, and as it is "for noble presence and piercing eye this common or even abundant it must be of bird has few equals among our Falcon- great value to agricultural interests. The idae." younger birds are more apt to take poul- The eggs of this species vary from two try because of "a lack of skill in procur- to five and are usually somewhat blotch- ing a sufficient quantity of the more usual ed or irregularly marked with chocolate prey." brown on a dull white background. Mr. P. M. Silloway says, "None of the The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo borealis) Hawks has suffered more undeserved of our illustration is young and shows persecution than has the Red-tailed Buz- the plumage of the immature form. zard or Hawk, whose characteristics This species may be called our winter place it among the ignoble falcons, or hawk and for this reason the name bo- hawks, of feudal times. Lacking the realis is most appropriate. "The coldest swiftness and impetuosity of attack pe- days of January serve to give this hawk culiar to the true falcons, it depends on a keener eye and a deeper zest for the its ability to surprise its prey and drop chase." The best locality to seek the upon it when unable to escape." Red-tail may be found at the wooded During the summer months it retires borders of pastures and streams, where to the forests to breed, where it builds a it can easily perceive and swoop down large and bulky though shallow nest in upon its prey. It seldom visits a barn- trees, often at a height of from fifty to yard, but will occasionally catch a fowl seventy-five feet from the ground. The that -has strayed away from the protec- nest is constructed of sticks and small tion of buildings. Its food consists to a twigs and lined with grass, moss, feath- great extent of meadow and other species ers or other soft materials. The number of mice, rabbit? and other rodents. The of eggs is usually three, though there remains of toads, frogs and snakes have may be two or four. They are a little also been found in its stomach. One over two inches long and less than two writer says, "The Red-tailed Hawk is inches in diameter. They are dull a powerful bird and I once saw one whitish in color and usually somewhat strike-a full-grown muskrat, which it tore marked with various shades of brown, to pieces and devoured the greater part." The full plumage of the adult is not Dr. Fisher gives an interesting sum- acquired for some time and the bird has mary of the examination of five hundred been long full grown before the charac- and sixty-two stomachs. Fifty-four con- teristic red color of the tail appears, tained poultry or game birds ; fifty-one, Seth Mindweli. 54 INTERESTING STONE HOUSES. While the children were playing in a homes, only thrusting the head and a por- small brook, they found something en- tion of the body out in search of food, tirely new to them, and as usual, came When about to pass into the torpid with hands full, shouting, "We have found pupa state, they fastened their houses to something new ! Do you know what some sticks and stones in the water, and these are ?" then closed the end with a strong silken These new treasures proved to be the grating, which allowed the water to pass larvae of the caddis fly in their stone freely through their houses, keeping them houses. This little creature is noted for sweet and fresh. We are told that this its complete metamorphosis. The female fresh water is necessary for the respira- fly often descends to the depth of a foot tion of the pupa. Thus they remain quiet or more in water to deposit her eggs. As for a time until they are ready to assume the eggs hatch the habits of their larvae the imago form. When that important are exceedingly interesting. period arrives they make an opening in They are aquatic, being long, softish the silken grating with a pair of hooked grubs, with six feet. The fish are very jaws, which seem to have developed while fond of them, for which reason they are resting in the pupa state. They also have in great demand for bait. The angler become efficient swimmers, using their looks for "cad-bait" along the edges of long hind legs to assist them. After en- streams, under stones, or on the stalks of joying this new exercise of swimming for aquatic plants. One can easily see that a short time they evidently become their lives are not free from care and dan- anxious for a wider experience, and com- ger, and so to protect themselves, they ing to the surface of the water, usually are very wise in building cylindrical climbing up some plant, the skin of the cases in which they live during this dan- swimmer gapes open and out flies the per- gerous period. The different species, of feet insect. Sometimes this final change which there are many, seem to have their takes place on the surface of the water, individual preference as to the substance when they use their deserted skin as a which they employ in building these sort of raft, from which to rise into the houses, some using bits of wood, others air, and away they go to new fields and shells, pebbles, or straws. They readily new experiences. These insects are disregard these preferences when there is known as the caddis-fly of the order a lack of the material which they usually Neuroptera, having four wings, measur- prefer. ing about an inch when full spread, with Those brought to me were made of branched nervures, of which the anterior different colored pebbles and were very pair are clothed with hairs ; the posterior pretty homes. We counted the pebbles pair are folded in repose. The head is in one of them and found there were furnished with a pair of large eyes, with eighty-nine used, and built so securely three ocelli, and the antennae are gener- that it could not be easily crushed by our ally very long. fingers. They were all about an inch in If you know the haunts of this interest- length, a quarter of an inch in diameter ing house builder, scatter some bright and were perfect cylinders with a large sand and tiny pebbles in the water, and pebble fastening one end ; so no fish could when they are deserted, gather the houses catch them unawares. We placed them in for your collection, water, where we could watch their devel- Rest H. Metcalf. opment. They never willingly left their 55 THE ALASKAN SPARROW. There's a far-away country, a wonderful land That the twilight loves best, where the finger of God Touched the land into shadows; unlighted they stand As they stood at the first over-ocean and sod, And the cloud and the mountain are one; all unheard Is the murmur of traffic, the sigh of unrest, And the King of the land is a golden-crowned bird With a robe of plain brown and an ashy-gray vest. Where the shadows are deepest a musical sound Cleaves their darkness, the song of the golden-crowned King. Never day is so dark but the sweet notes are heard, Never forest so dense but the melodies ring. Sing on, little King of the twilight land, sing, Thy kingdom extend through the oncoming days, Till the spaces between us with music shall ring, And the world hush its breath but to listen and praise. —Nelly Hart Woodworth. 56 Public' Library "X M THE DOWITCHER. (Macrorhamphus grisrus.) The range of the Dowitcher is limited to the eastern part of North America. It has been reported as far west as the Mis sissippi river. It breeds in the far north, usually within the Arctic Circle. Its mi gration is extensive for it winters in Flor ida, the West Indies and in the northern portion of South America. The Dowitcher is one of the best known of our coast birds. It bears many popular names, such as Gray Snipe, Gray-back, Dowitch, Driver, Brown-back and Bay Bird. The generic name Mac rorhamphus is derived from two Greek words, makros, meaning large, and rhamphos, meaning bill. The specific name griseus means gray, and probably has reference to the grayish color of the winter plumage. The Dowitchers are the most numer ous of the seaside snipes. Inland it is re placed by the Long-billed Dowitcher (Macrorhamphus scolopaceus), which has a longer bill and is a little larger. Mr. Wilson, in his Ornithology, gives the following interesting account of their habits : "They frequent the sandbars and mud of flats at low water in search of food and, being less suspicious of a boat than of a person on shore, they are easily approached by this medium and shot down in great numbers. I have frequently amused myself with the various actions of these birds. They fly rapidly, some times wheeling, coursing and doubling along the surface of the marshes ; then shooting high in the air, there separating and forming in various bodies, uttering a kind of quivering whistle." At the re treat of the tide flocks will frequently set tle on the shore in such large numbers and so close together that several dozen have been killed at a single shot. Mr. Chapman tells us that "they mi grate in compact flocks, which are easily attracted to decoys by an imitation of their call. Mud-flats and bars exposed by the falling tide are their chosen feeding grounds. On the Gulf coast of Florida I have seen several hundred gathered in such close rank that they entirely con cealed the sandbar on which they were resting." In summer the general color of these birds is dark-brown and the feathers are more or less edged with a reddish tinge. Underneath, the general color is light cinnamon, with white on the belly. In the winter the plumage is more gray and the under parts are much lighter in color. This bird usually lays four eggs of a buffy olive color, which are marked by brown, especially near the larger end. All the beautiful stars of the sky, The silver doves of the forest of Night, Over the dull earth swarm and fly, Companions of our flight. -James Thomson, 59 SOME THINGS WE MIGHT LEARN FROM THE LOWER ANIMALS. Man has been instructed in many ing victim for her rapacious progeny next things by lower animals, but there is yet spring, while he is too young to hunt for much to be learned. It is said that the himself, and while the caterpillars are still first suspension bridge across the Ni- securely hiding in their mummy cases, agara was constructed after the plainest Mrs. Wasp finds the venturesome young sort of hint from a spider. Yet we have caterpillar crawling somewhere, and never found the name of Mr. Spider cut pouncing upon him, carefully inserts her upon the buttresses of a bridge. Who sting into the nerve ganglia that are lo- knows but that the builders of the pyra- cated in a line along his dorsal surface, mids of ancient Egypt copied their engi- We don't know how she learned the ex- neering plans from the ants who for gen- act location of the ganglia and that a few erations had pursued similar methods in well-directed stabs will produce more ef- the architecture of their cities ? Spiders feet than hundreds of misdirected thrusts had been ballooning for many centuries in other parts of the body, but it is cer- before man swung his first parachute to tainly true that she selects the very seg- the breeze. In fact, there is a species of ments in which the ganglia are located to spider, which, although they have no inflict the wound. And she had the loca- wings, are able to spin for themselves a tion of these nerve centers for a long time sort of apparatus by means of which they before biologists made the discovery, navigate the air; yet man, with all his What a fine thing it would be for the boasted intelligence, has not accom- biologist if he could learn the secret of plished this, even with the most compli- thus preserving living animals instead of cated machinery. So I might go on to the stiff, discolored and uninteresting al- suggest many mechanical and economic coholic specimens. Then think of the contrivances used by lower animals, some economic value of such a discovery. Ani- of which man has copied but many of mals could be fattened in summer at which he has as yet been unable to equal, much smaller expense and then injected Before the first potter of old had fash- and set away until needed. We would ioned a vase or a jug the Eumenes fra- have no more difficulty in providing our terna had constructed his dainty little armies with beef on the hoof, and fresh jugs of mud. But the making of jugs is meat could be shipped at much -less ex- not the only art man might learn from pense over long distances, as no ice this little wasp. Upon examination we would be necessary. We would have no find the jug filled with small green cater- more complaint of embalmed beef and pillars. After depositing her egg Mrs. putrid canned goods. Wasp thus provides for her baby when it The common mud wasp that builds in shall appear upon the field of action. Now old garrets fills his nest with a species of the peculiar part of this proceeding to spider much relished by the young wasp which I wish to call attention is that the and exhibits much judgment in supplying worm is not dead, but is merely in a com- exactly the right number to provide for atose state. If it had been killed it would the growing wasp until he is able to sally have putrified and entirely disappeared forth and seize prey for himself. These before the young wasp was hatched. spiders — often seventeen or eighteen of Furthermore, the young wasp is fond of them — are stupefied in the same manner fresh caterpillar steak, preferably from as in the case of the potter wasp, and are the living animal. So Mrs. Wasp must living when the young wasp begins his have a method of preserving the fresh liv- repast. This habit is peculiar to many 60 species of wasp and is, I think, worthy of ence with a pair of Rocky Mountain careful study. I wish I had space to tell ground squirrels. After missing them of the almost fiendish ingenuity that cer- for a month he accidentally found them tain parasites show in maintaining them- curled up under some straw, apparently selves at the expense of their hosts. frozen stiff. He brought them to the The ground hog has a knack of spend- house to show his wife the misfortune that ing his winter in a way that is at once eco- had befallen his pets. Soon they seemed nomical and pleasant. They generally to thaw out and scampered about as lively hibernate in pairs, rolling themselves up as ever. No sooner were they put out into balls. They do not seem to breathe in the cold than they resumed their sleep, or to perform any of the life functions which continued all winter, their bodies during their long six months' sleep, maintaining a fairly constant tempera- There is, I fear, no foundation of fact for ture, seldom falling below three degrees the ancient fiction of the ground hog ap- above the freezing point of water. They pearing and making weather prognosti- came out in the spring as chipper as if cations on the second of February. A they had been asleep but one night. Many gentleman writing in the New York Sun hibernating animals will if wakened by of some years since says : "I took the being placed in a warm room, eat eagerly, trouble once to dig into a woodchuck's but they soon show a desire to resume burrow on Candlemas day, and a warm, their nap. cloudy day it was ; just such a day when The Loir, a peculiar little native of the ground hog is said to come out of his Senegal, never hibernates in its native hole and stay out. I found two wood^ clime, but every specimen brought to Eu- chucks in the burrow, with no more signs rope becomes torpid when exposed to of life about them than if they had been cold. The common land tortoise — wher- shot and killed. From all outward ap- ever he may be and he is a voracious eater pearances I could have taken them out of almost anything — always goes to sleep and had a game of football with them in November, and wakes some time in without their knowing it." May. Nor is it true that hibernating animals Just as in the north numerous animals live upon their accumulated fat, for di- hibernate upon approach of cold, so in gestion, as well as other active life pro- the south there are species that may be cesses, ceases. Hibernating animals al- said to estivate during the hottest ways begin their long sleep upon an weather. While the northern animals empty stomach, and food injected into curl up so as to retain heat, his southern their stomach is not digested. The fat cousin straightens out as much as possi- disappears, it is true, but it is not in any ble to allow the heat to escape from all strict sense digested. Any experienced parts of the body. hunter is aware that unless the entrails But it was not my intention to write an are removed from the shot rabbit the fat essay upon hibernation and allied phe- will disappear from about the kidneys, nomena, but merely to speak of it as a The fat may, and no doubt does, assist in subject that should be investigated, some way in the long sleep. It may act What a splendid arrangement it would as fuel to keep up the right living temper- be for the poor, the sick, and the melan- ature. At any rate, it is true that hiber- choly folk if they could just hibernate for nating animals eat voraciously and grow six months occasionally, very fat just before they go to sleep. It I will merely speak of the light of the is a peculiar fact that many hibernating so called lightning bug, with its over animals bring forth their young during ninety per centum efficiency and no heat this period. This is especially true of and no consumption of fuel to speak of. woodchucks and bears. It is a common Why doesn't some genius learn her Ian- experience with hunters that only male guage and find out how she does it ? She bears are killed during the winter season. has been trying for centuries to demon- Mr. Andrew Fuller of Ridgewood, strate it but we are too stupid to learn her New Jersey, according to the article secret. Rowland Watts, above quoted, had an interesting experi- 61 THE GREAT-TAILED CRACKLE. (Quiscalus macrourus.) The Great-tailed Crackle belongs to a family of birds that is "eminently charac teristic of the New World, all the species being peculiar to America." It is the family of the blackbird and oriole, of the bobolink and the meadowlark. It is called the Icteridae, from a Greek word ikteros, meaning a yellow bird. The majority of the one hundred and fifty or more species that are grouped in this family make their home in the tropics where their brilliant colors are emphasized by the ever green foliage and the bright sunshine. The family is interesting because the species, though closely related, vary so widely in their habits. They "are found living in ground of every nature, from dry plains and wet marshes to the densest forest growth." Here are classed some of the birds which are among the most beautiful of our songsters. Here, too, are classed some species that never utter a musical sound, and whose voices are harsh and rough. The sexes are usually dissimilar, the female being the smaller and generally much duller in color. The Great-tailed Grackle is a native of Eastern Texas, and the country south ward into Central America. The Crackles are sometimes called Crow Blackbirds. There are five species, all found in the United States, The Bronzed and the Pur ple Crackles are the most generally dis tributed and best known. The Great-tailed Grackle, as well as the other species, usually builds rude and bulky nests in trees, sometimes at quite a height from the ground. It will also nest in shrubs and it is said that it will oc casionally select holes in large trees. The males are an iridescent black in color and the females are brown and much smaller. Both sexes spend most of their time on the ground. Their feet are strong and large, and, when upon the ground, they walk or run and never hop. THE EAGLE. He clasps the crag with hooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring'd with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls. Alfred Tennyson, 62 THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS. What do we mean by the "Geograph- to what shall determine the distribution ical Distribution" of birds? Are not of the separate species, it remains to birds to be found everywhere, over both study the physical conditions of the earth land and sea? Are they not, then, uni- -for the sake of finding what it is that de- versally distributed ? As a class they cer- termines the limits to which the different tainly are, but not as species nor even or- species may go. ders. Parrots are not found in frigid re- We know that the distribution of land gions,norare snowflakes and snowy owls and water over the earth has not always found in the tropical regions. Our Wood been the same as it is now, but that many Warblers and Vireos are not found out- places that are now covered with water side of America, while there are no birds were once dry land, and that in many of Paradise anywhere in America. We places where there is now land there used shall see that most of the birds found in to be water. Now, America is wholly the eastern hemisphere differ from those separated from Uro-Asia-Africa, but found in the western, speaking broadly, once they were connected together by a but that many of the island birds are dif- broad neck of land where Bering Sea now ferent from birds of continents. lies, and there may have been another Since most birds migrate shorter or neck of land connecting Europe with Ice- longer distances in search of a place to land and Greenland and so with North rear their young, and return again to America. Now Australia and New Zea- warmer regions to pass the winter land are wholly separated from all other months, the question at once arises, lands, but they were not so long ago. So What is the geographical distribution of of the larger islands in general, they have such migratory birds? That is not so not always been isolated as now, but difficult as it may seem at first glance. We connected with great land masses, shar- have only to inquire what governs the ing with them the animals which roamed movements of the species in question in over the whole vast regions. For in the such a way that its appearance at certain earlier times before Man had appeared places at certain known times may be upon the earth, before the great Gla- confidently expected. The study of mi- cial Period, the whole earth was tropical gration and breeding has shown that the in climate, making it possible for plants impulse to move northward in the spring as well as animals to live anywhere upon to the old nesting-places where the young the earth, as they cannot now. Then ex- are reared is more reliable than- the im- tensive migrations north and south were pulse to move southward on the approach not necessary, but instead there were of cold. The birds are more certain to roamings about in all directions, or great appear at their old summer homes in invasions of new regions by hosts of ani- spring than they are to be found at any mals of one kind. particular place during the winter. But if As the land sank away here and there, there be any objection to this view it will and the sea covered it, barriers were thus yet remain true that where a bird rears its formed to further roamings, except by young should more properly be called its the birds of strong flight or animals that home than the place to which it is forced could swim long distances, and there by the approach of cold or the lack of could no longer be an intermingling of food. In either case, therefore, we may the animals of the whole land surface of regard the home of the bird, and there- the world. Since all animals are inclined fore treat its distribution geographically to change somewhat to meet or keep as the place where it habitually rears its pace with the changes that are going on young. Having settled the question as in vegetation and the general physical 65 conditions of the earth, those that have been separated in this way will grow more and more unlike. In some such isolated regions there may not be much change in their environment and so they will change but little, if at all, and so will not keep pace with those in other regions where life is a constant struggle with others for supremacy. It is just as true in the natural world as in the com mercial, that competition is necessary for the highest development. It is prob ably true that the disturbances which caused the land to sink in places and so disconnect what had been connected lands, possibly a splitting up of one great flat land mass, also brought about the changes which made out of one great tropical world the one that we know with its frigid, temperate and tropical zones. So that just at the time when the animals of the different regions were separated from each other forever there came these changes in physical conditions which would make them change to meet the new conditions. But that is a long story for the geologist to tell. Of course the sinking of the land in different regions occurred at different times, probably thousands of years apart in many cases. And the changes from tropical to tem perate and frigid must have been very gradual also, or there would have been no animals left alive in the northern and southern regions. Only those near the equator could have lived. Probably New Zealand was the first considerable land mass to 'be separated absolutely and for all time irom all other land, because here we find the lowest type of birds and lower animals. There are no terrestrial indigenous mammals even. Such birds as were not able to fly across the now wide stretches of ocean did not continue to develop rapidly be cause there was little change in their en vironment " andi because there was little or no competition with other similar forms. So to-day we find them either very similar to what they were when their island home was made an island home, or else even degenerated into flightless creatures. Australia seems to have been the next tract of land cut off, for here, too, we meet with the lower forms which show the lack of the keen competition which their relatives further north had to sustain. When North America was cut off from Siberia, marking the close of more or less extensive interchange of communication of the animals of both regions, there was little difference in their animal life ; but following this separation there came about a more rapid change in the Orient than in the Occident. It may not be quite clear why this was so, but that it was cannot be doubted, for some of the lower forms of animals which still inhabit America have been com pletely destroyed in the Orient. At the time of their separation these forms were found in both places. What seems a probable explanation of this more rapid change in the Orient may be briefly stated. The configuration of the Orient is such that animals would have a far greater range east and west than north and south. A great mountain range and a great desert are thrown as barriers across the way of the northward and southward movement. In America there is a continuous gateway to the north and south, but barriers to an eastward or westward movement. With such crea tures as the birds freedom to move north and south would always lessen competition, while the crowding of one group or race upon another eastward or westward would increase the competi tion. But Geology tells us that in the Orient such westward invasions have ac tually occurred, causing the death of the less hardy forms and the modification of all forms of animal life. It must not be understood, from what has been said, that all the animals, espe cially the birds, found in any one country or island, are different from the birds found in all others, for that is not true. There are many species of birds that are found practically all over the earth. But what is true is that each country or re gion of any considerable extent, or group of oceanic islands has some species which are not found anywhere else in the world. From what has already been said it will be clear that the world may be divid ed into several different regions, accord ing to the animals which are peculiar to the different ones. Following Newton's system, because it seems the most logi- 66 cal, at least so far as the birds are con- THE HOLARCTIC REGION, cerned, we have first as the name implies, includes all of THE NEW ZEALAND REGION. North America, Europe, Asia north Here we find the flightless Apteryx and of. India' and the •Himalaya moun- a flightless goose now extinct, also the ex- tains northern Africa where the tinct Moa. There, are also peculiar forms freat Sal^ra forms the natural boun- among the shore-birds, the birds of prey, daiT> and all islands belonging to the the parrots, and some rather curiously n?rth temperate and north frigid zones, constituted passerine birds. There have ^any have dlvld5d th!s £reat ^elt. mto been several species introduced in rela- P^learctic and Nearctic, but the inter- tively recent times, some of which al- gj*?1* ^f species between northeast ready show signs of change. Slbe.na and Alaska seems to make such a distinction impracticable. But these dis- THE AUSTRALIAN REGION tiiictions should be and are retained in is but slightly connected with the preced- the divisions of the Holarctic. When we ing. The line separating this region from understand that at least one-third of the the Indian passes between the islands of species found in the Nearctic are also Bali and Lombok, through the Strait of found in the Palearctic, we shall under- Macassar, between Borneo and Celebes, stand why these two are grouped under thence northward between the Philippines one region. There are no orders, and andSanguirandPelew; including, further there seem to be no families which are on, the Ladrones, Hawaiian's, all of Poly- found in the Holarctic and nowhere else, nesia except the northern outliers of the Indeed, it is difficult to find even genera New Zealand group, and finally sweeping which do not have some species ranging back to encompass Australia. Here we into the Neotropical, Ethiopian or In- find the curious egg-laying mammal, dian. But among the species we find Ornithorhynchus. But to pass at once many. Indeed, there are few species to the birds. Here we find such peculiar which nest in both the Holarctic and in forms as the megapodes, cassowaries, the regions bounding it on the south, and sun-bitterns, birds-of-paradise, lyre- many of these are found only on the birds, and many not so familiar. Of the southern boundaries of the Holarctic. In higher birds there are but few compared our part of the Holarctic, that is, the Ne- with Europe or America. It is evidently arctic, the familiar birds about us do not a continent which has* long been sep- nest also in the tropical regions, arated from the rest of the world. THE ETHIOPIAN REGION, THE NEOTROPICAL REGION as the name SUggestS, includes the whole includes, broadly, tropical America. The of Africa except that portion north of forms found here bear certain resemblances the Sahara desert, and Arabia and to those found in the two regions already Egypt, with Madagascar and other discussed; but this resemblance is prob- islands in the immediate vicinity, ably rather because they are low in the It seems hardly necessary to even scale of development than that there has mention the forms that are pecu- ever been any direct land connection be- liar to this peculiar region. Even the tween them. Much the same conditions word Africa brings trooping to our of life must have prevailed for all, thus minds a whole continent of peculiarities making the rate of development nearly in more realms than one. Here we find equal. Here we find the rhea, tinamou the Ostrich, the plantain eaters, the colics and hoactzin, which show low grade; but and several, other families — nine in all. mingling freely with them the higher Of the lower groups there are the rollers, forms which seem to have come down bee-eaters, horn-bills, the curious secre- from the north later and all but crowded tary-bird and many others. It is signifi- out these lower ones. There is abundant cant that among the Passerine birds there evidence that the struggle for existence in are but three families that are peculiar. South America has been far less severe So on the whole, this region has not de- than in North America. veioped so rapidly as the Holarctic. 67 There has not been the intense struggle for supremacy here which we see in the north temperate and higher regions. THE INDIAN REGION completes the list. Broadly speak ing, this region comprises that part of Asia which lies east of the Indus river south of the Himalaya moun tains except the eastern half of the drain age basin of the Yang-tse-kiang river, reaching the coast just south of Shang hai, including the island of Formosa, the Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumatra and Ceylon. This is the Oriental Region of Wallace. There are, apparently, but two families of birds peculiar to this region : the bulbuls and the broad-bills ; but there are very many genera and species found nowhere else in the world. The king- crows, sun-birds, swallow-shrikes, argus pheasant, jungle fowl and the well-known peacocks belong here. Very many of the birds of this region are gaudily col ored and striking in appearance. Each of these great regions, except possibly New Zealand, are readily divis ible into sub-regions, and these again into areas of lesser extent, until each fauna may be assigned its proper place. Thus in the Holarctic Region we recognize the Near ctic, which comprises about all of North America, and a Palearctic sub~re- gion, the outlines of which have already been sketched. Within the Nearctic three minor regions are recognized. The Arc tic "includes that part. of the continent and its adjacent islands north of about the limjt of forest vegetation" (Allen). That is, extreme northern and north western Alaska, sweeping southeasterly through British America to and includ ing Hudson Bay, northern and north eastern Labrador and northern New foundland. The Cold Temperate, which lies next south, begins in the east near Quebec, then sweeps westward past the Great Lakes almost to Winnipeg, thence in a, northwesterly direction just west of Lake Winnipeg; from there in a more westerly direction to the mountains, which it follows even into northei n Mexico as a narrow line; from the west. coast at the north end of Vancouver Island it runs east to the mountains. Maine and Nova Scotia are a part of the Allegheny belt which reaches to Alabama. Below this southern limit of the Cold Temperate lies the Warm Temperate, extending almost to Central America. But this is again subdivided into an eastern Humid Prov ince which ends at the Plains, and a west ern Arid Province. These are again subdivided into an Appalachian Sub- province and an Austroriparian Sub- province for the Humid Province, and a Sonoran and Campestrian Subprovince for the Arid Province. But the boun daries of these minor subdivisions are not yet definitely settled, nor are the charac teristic species in each finally decided up on, so it will not be. profitable to carry our investigation further at this time. We learn from this that when we find that one region, be it large or small, is unlike every other region in some par ticulars of climate or vegetation or tem perature, or when it is not easily acces sible from other regions, we may expect to find the animals somewhat different ac cording to the conditions which prevail. From this it is a clear step to the truth that an animal's environment exerts a considerable influence upon its life and through its life upon its form ; changing the form in some particulars that make it different from all other animals. It is also true of plants. Since, then, there are different physical conditions in every country of any considerable size, these changes in plants and animals are going on now, but so slowly that we are not able to see them. At the end of another thousand years or longer, the species of birds which we now know may be so changed that we should not know them if we could see them. But that need not worry us! Lynds Jones. FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES. 388 HOODED WARBLER. (Silvania mitrata.) COPYRIGHT 19C A. W. MUMFORO, I THE HOODED WARBLER. (Sylvania mitrata.} " He was recognizable at once by the bright yellow hood he wore, bordered all around with deep black. A bright, flitting blossom of the bird world!" — Leander S. Keyser, in Bird Land. This beautiful little warbler is a resi- gnat or miller, and once, having caught dent of the eastern United States. It is a miller that was large and inclined to be more common in the southern portion of refractory, he flew to the ^icund, beat it this district and throughout the Missis- awhile on the clods, and then swallowed sippi Valley. Its breeding range ex- it with a consequential air which seemed tends from the Gulf of Mexico as far to to say, 'That is my way of disposing of the northward as southern Michigan. It such cases !' Several times he mounted winters in the West Indies, in Mexico, almost straight up from his perch, and and in Central America. Though a wood twice he almost turned) a somersault in warbler it prefers the shrubby growths pursuit of an insect. Once he clung like in low and well-watered places rather a titmouse to the bole of a sapling." than the forest. It is said to be abundant To some its notes, which are quite mu- among the canes of the Southern States, sical, lively, sweet and happy, seem to re- Many other names have been given this semble twee, twee, twitchie. Mr. Chap- warbler, all having reference to the ar- man says the song "is subject to much rangement of the black and yellow colors variation, but as a rule consists of eight on the head. It is called the Black-head- or nine notes. To my ear the bird seems ed Warbler, the Hooded Flycatching to say, 'You must come to the woods, or Warbler, the Mitred Warbler, and the you won't see me.' ' Black-cap Warbler. The nest of the Hooded Warbler is us- Activity seems to be the keynote of its ually built in low shrubs, sometimes but life. It is in constant pursuit of insects, a few inches from the ground and seldom which it catches while they are on the higher than two feet. It is constructed wing. Unlike the flycatchers it seldom of fine rootlets, and fibers of bark corn- returns to the same perch from which it pactly interwoven with leaves, fine grass flew to catch its prey. and hair. It is lined with grass, hair and The words of Mr. Keyser most aptly feathers. The eggs, which are usually describe the habits of the Hooded War- five in number, are white, or nearly white, bier. He says, speaking of an hour spent in color, with red or brownish spots near in observing the bird's behavior, "He was the larger end. They are nearly three- not in the least shy or nervous, but fourths of an inch in length, and a little seemed rather to court my presence. Al- over one-half of an Inch in their greatest most every moment was spent in captur- diameter. ing insects on the wing or in sitting on a Three years or more are required for perch watching for them to flash into the development of the fully adult plu- view. Like a genuine flycatcher, as soon mage. The throat of the female, though as a buzzing insect hove in sight, he black, is not as pure a black as that of would dart out after it, and never once the male, and it is not so extensive or as failed to secure his prize. Sometimes he well defined, would plunge swiftly downward after a MRS. JANE'S EXPERIMENT. One is surprised at the wonderful vital- morning four pert little downy fellows oc- ity.to be found in an egg. The following cupied the bottom of the bucket, with incident, almost incredible as it seems, is seven unhatched eggs, ail absolute fact. Those chickens grew faster than almost Mrs. Jane, very fond of raising select any chickens ever known. They were breeds of chickens, put a setting of fine never anything but tame, and the most Brahma eggs under what she considered active of the four, who bears the appro- an absolutely trustworthy Biddy, — but, priate name of Theodore Roosevelt, al- alas ! JBiddy proved unstable, like many lows any one to pick him up and fondle another. bipec}, and went off in a few days, him, but is ready to fight with anything leaving her nest and rather costly con- in the poultry yard — big chicken, little tents to the mercy of the elements. chicken, the skye terrier, the cat or any- Mrs. Jane, in three or four days, discov- thing else that is or might be in his way. ered the abandoned domicile, and, deter- Mrs. Jane says she never was sorry for mined not to be outdone by any such her experiment but once, and that is all maneuver on the part of Biddy, proposed the time. to show her that Brahma chickens could The cause for Mrs. Jane's regret is the be developed without the assistance of fact that whether she be in the hen yard, any old hen. kitchen or parlor, no place except right So, not having an incubator of any ap- under her motherly gown is quite good proved manufacture, she proceeded to enough for these enterprising birds, make one. She secured a large bread pan Recently I saw "Teddy" open the to hold the water, a small wooden pail to screen and walk into the kitchen, hold the eggs, which were wrapped in He lifted his foot, pulled the screen warm flannel, and' a good kerosene lamp, open wide enough to admit his head and which was placed under the pan holding then pushed his whole body, now quite the water and then lighted. large and plump, through the crack. The bucket containing the eggs was How long this interesting little hero, then placed in the pan of water and the with his mates, will be permitted to en- whole apparatus left in a quiet bedroom, joy the rights of chickendom yet remains Oh, how Mr. Jane and the boys and the to be seen, but the fact that "Mrs. Jane's neighbors twitted Mrs. Jane about wast- incubator was a success" has been ad1- ing coal oil and time in keeping those mitted by^all who were so skeptical when eggs warm ! But, behold ! in a little over she began her novel experiment, two weeks, one morning a shell was Mary Noland. chipped, at noon another, and by the next 72 A STROLL IN THE FROST KING'S REALM. The rain of the night before had turned A barbed-wire fence, as far as the eye into a heavy sleet, followed by blustering could reach, was converted into endless weather. All day the sun was hidden by strings of pearls. I gazed upon this vis- gray clouds, accompanied with fitful ion until, becoming dazzled,! turned from snow showers ;but at last the clouds were the sun to rest my eyes, and in the back- dispelled and the following morning ground saw trees that formed pearly sil- dawned clear and cold. houttes against the dark blue sky. Was As the sun slowly rose above the hori- any enchanted land more entrancing? zon he added dazzling brilliance to the al- Turning again, I resumed my walk to ready lovely landscape. the foot of the hill, and, by the aid of the The mercury was very little above zero bushes and saplings, scrambled up its pre- as I sought the woods to reap the full cipitous face and pushed onward through benefit of this wonderful transformation the underbrush, parting the interlacing of Nature. Just two days ago she wore branches as I went until I reached a ra- her usual garb of neutral tints; but what vine. a magical change the Frost King had I continued onward, recognizing the wrought in this N time! The earth was familiar trees everywhere ; though divest- now covered with a white mantle of snow ed of foliage and incased in crystal, each and every tree and shrub had on a glitter- variety has its distinctive form, and bark, ing armor of sleet. A few minutes' brisk A musical tinkle accompanied every walk over the crisp snow brought me to movement as I brushed the twigs and a corn field, and by wending my way grasses along the way. along a path through this field I arrived One not accustomed to the study of at a strip of woodland. Here the path Nature in her various moods might sup- merged into a narrow wagon road cut out pose that such a landscape would be de- of a steep bluff. The entrance to this void of animation. But this was not the road introduced me to a land of enchant- case. A very pleasing feature of the ment. scene was the animal life that abounded. On either side the face of the bluff was A rabbit snugly concealed beneath a covered with a tangled growth of shrubs, bunch of grass started up, bounded away, briers and weeds, while above were trees and was soon lost to view in the thicket, whose over-arching branches sparkled in Small flocks of snowbirds and chickadees the sun, showing all the colors of the were flitting gaily about. A crow sat in rainbow. Every branch and twig was the top of a majestic oak and cawed lus- decked with gems — rubies, sapphires, tily in answer to one 'that was faintly emeralds and diamonds everywhere — and heard in the distance. A pair of cardinals diamond dust formed a carpet under- flew about the border of the woods, and a neath. The low bushes at me base of the single woodpecker was high up on the bank where sheltered from the wind's dis- trunk of a tree, while another, whose arranging blast, were wrapped in finest form could not be detected, was hammer- ermine. Just in front of me, to the left, ing away. All these were suited to the was a wild rose, a fountain of purest environment, but not so was yonder lone crystal, the effect heightened by its scar- blackbird, doubtless a straggler from a let hips. A little further on was a small flock which had settled in the tree of the tree draped with a tangled vine with clus- yard in the early morning, ters of pendant fruit, like crystallized Lured by the pleasant, mild weather of grapes. On the other hand were rasp- the preceding week, they had arrived berry canes, the livid red gleaming only to encounter snow and mid-winter, through the dazzling frost, and all around and would doubtless retreat to more con- was golden-rod, more resplendent than genial surroundings and absent them- when its golden blossoms lighted the way selves until the true springtime should in autumn, and the asters shone like herald the approach of summer, jewel-rayed stars. Addie L. Booker. 73 SNAILS OF THE FOREST AND FIELD. The forest is the home of the snail, where these interesting little animals may be found by any one desiring a closer ac quaintance. They are not generally easy to find, being mostly nocturnal in habits and remaining hidden away under leaves, stones and old logs during the daytime. On rainy days, however, they may be seen crawling about, enjoying the deli cious moisture. In our last article we reviewed a few of the most interesting families of bivalve shells, and in the present paper we desire to draw the attention of the reader to the order Pulmonata, which includes those snails breathing air by means of a modi fied lung. The snails differ from the clams in having the body generally protected by a spiral shell which is capable of contain ing the entire animal. The former have a more or less expanded creeping disk which we call a foot, a head generally separated from the body by a neck (the reader will remember that the clams are headless), and also a pair of rather long eye peduncles protruding from the top of the head, which bear at their tips the round, black eyes, and a pair of short tactile organs, or tentacles, extending from the lower part of the head. The eye- peduncles are peculiar in being invertible in the same manner that a kid glove fin ger is pulled inside out. The mouth is placed in the lower plane of the' head and is recognized externally as a simple slit. Inside of the mouth is placed one ^of the most wonderful dental apparatuses known to science. This is called the radula, odontophore or tooth- bearer, and is a belt of chitinous, trans parent, yellowish or colorless material, its upper surface being armed with nu merous siliceous teeth arranged in longi tudinal and parallel rows. The radula is placed in an organ called the buccal sac and occupies a position in the sac anal ogous to that of the tongue in a cat or dog, viz., on the floor of the mouth. It is formed from a layer of cells in the pos terior part of the buccal sac, called the radula sac, and new teeth are constantly forming here to take the place of those which have become worn by use. The whole radula rests upon a cartilage, is strongly fastened at the anterior end, and is brought down between the two fleshy lips of the mouth where it performs a backward and forward movement, thus rasping off with the sharp teeth particles of food which have been cut into small pieces by the horny jaw. During this process the morsel of food is pressed against the top or roof of the mouth. The jaw is placed in the upper part of the mouth in front of the radula, and is fre quently armed with ribs to aid in cutting or biting off pieces of food, as leaves or vegetables. As before remarked, the radula is made up of parallel rows of teeth, the whole area being usually divided into five longi tudinal rows, each row differing from the one next to it. We have first a central row, on each side of this a lateral row and finally a marginal row. Each tooth in each row is made up of different parts, a basal part attached to the radula belt and an upper part which is turned over or re- flexed and bent backward so as to tear off food particles by a backward move ment of the whole apparatus. This di versity of form in the teeth has led con- chologists to adopt a tooth formula sim ilar to that adopted for vertebrate ani mals, so that the teeth of different species can be compared and the animals classi fied thereby. Thus each tooth has cer tain prominences called cusps, which vary in size, number and position, and serve admirably to describe the different groups of snails. All the mollusca, ex cept the bivalves, are provided with this radula. One of the most wonderful and inter esting facts connected with the radula is the large number of teeth on each mem- 74 brane. Thus in some species of our com- while numerous in species, are not as mon snails there are seventy-one teeth in conspicuous in color-pattern as those of a single row, and the whole radula is Europe, South America or the islands of made up of a hundred rows of teeth, mak- the Indian and Pacific Oceans, although ing a grand total of seventy-one hundred California produces some highly- colored teeth in the mouth of a single snail ! species, as will be seen by consulting the Land snails are found almost every- figure of Helix fidelis, on our plate. The where, in valleys, high up on mountains, majority of our species are uncolored, and even in deserts. They may be found like the figure of Polygyra albolabris. in the cold climate of Alaska or in the One of the largest and most interesting tropical zone under the equator. As a of American shells is the Bulimus, found rule, they prefer moist localities, where in South America. The shell of Bulimus there is an abundance of vegetation and ovatus attains a length of six inches and where the ground is strewn with rotting the animal is correspondingly large. In logs, beds of decaying leaves or moss- the markets of Rio Janeiro this mollusk covered rocks. Open woodlands maybe is sold as food and is eagerly sought by said to be their best habitat in the north- . the poorer people, among whom it is con- ern part of the United States. sidered a great delicacy. Another inter- The shells of the Pulmonata vary to a esting fact in connection with this species wonderful degree in size, shape and col- (as well as others of the genus) is the size oration. Some are so small that they can of the eggs which it deposits, they being scarcely be seen with the unaided eye, as large as pigeons' eggs. These are also while others attain a length of six inches ; eaten with avidity by the negroes of Bra- some have the aperture of the shell armed zil. with numerous folds or teeth, while One of the most beautiful of the land others are smooth and the colors vary shells found in the United States is the from whitish or horn-colored to the gor- Liguus fasciatus, found in Florida and geously colored helices of the tropics Cuba. The shell is about two inches long with their bands and blotches of red, and is encircled by bands of white, brown brown, white or green. With all this di- and green. This species lives in great versity the land shells or helices may al- numbers at Key West, associated with ways be distinguished from their salt or many small shells of the Bulimus fresh- water relatives. The land snails group. Closely related to the last-men- breathe by means of a so-called lung tioned shell (Liguus) is the agate shell which is a sac lined with a network of (Achatina), which attains a length of blood vessels and occupying the last turn seven inches and is the largest of the or whorl of the shell. The air taken into land shells. Like the Bulimus men- this lung purifies the blood. tioned above it lays eggs of large size Much is written at the present time up- with a calcareous shell, some being over on our new possessions, the Philippine an inch in length. Both the animal and Islands, but few people are aware that the egg are eaten by the natives of Africa, these islands are tenanted by the most The shells are very attractive, being var- interesting and beautiful group of all the legated with different colors, like agate, land shells, the Cochlostylas, or tree from which they receive their common snails. The animals live for the most part name. in the trees and bushes of the islands, the Another of our new political posses- island of Luzon having, probably, the sions, the Hawaiian Islands, has a mollus- best known fauna. The animals are large can fauna peculiar to itself. This is the and quite bold and the shells are of sur- family Achatinellidae which is confined passing beauty, with their colors of solely to the Sandwich Islands. There white, green, brown, etc. Now that these are no shells which can compare in islands have come into the possession of beauty with the Achatinella with their en- the United States it is to be hoped that circled bands of black, yellow, white, red, these handsome creatures will receive the etc. They live on the bushes, generally study they deserve. rather low and near the ground, and re- The land shells of the United States, cently they have been threatened with 77 extinction because of the cattle which characters are seen and appreciated. By have been introduced into the islands, such an examination we find that the little In feeding on the bushes, they also con- apertures are armed with many teeth and sume large quantities of these snails. A folds, and sometimes we wonder how it is bush inhabited by these little creatures that the animal ever gets in and out must be a beautiful sight, with the green through such a labyrinth of apparent ob- foliage set off by the handsomely colored structions. These teeth serve in a man- shells, like jewels on a costly dress. ner to protect the little animal from its Among the edible snails none excel in enemies. These tiny shells are always to public favor the common edible snail of be found plentifully under starting bark Europe (Helix pomatia). The cultiva- and under chips, stones and debris, in tion of this animal has become an estab- more or less moist localities, lished business, like our oyster fisheries, In another genus of Pupidae, Clausilia, and thousands are consumed annually, nature has provided the aperture of the The early Romans considered this animal shell with a little valve called a "clausil- a dainty dish, and the inhabitants of ium," which acts as a spring door to close France, Spain and Italy have inherited or the shell against all its enemies. This cultivated a liking for the succulent door is an additional safeguard as the "Shell-fish." This species has been in- aperture is already provided with nu- troduced into New Orleans where it is merous teeth and folds. In this manner eaten by the French inhabitants. Helix does Mother Nature look after her chil- nemoralis, an edible snail of England, dren. with a beautifully banded shell, is sold in It is a curious fact that in all the larger the streets of London and eaten much as groups of animals there are one or more we eat walnuts, by picking out the animal genera which have the cruel and blood- with a pin ! The edible snails, as well as thirsty propensities of the shark. The many others, make good and interesting Mollusca are no exception to this rule, pets in captivity, the Helix pomatia being and we find in the genus Testacella an of such a size that it may be easily animal having all the ferocious propensi- studied. It is interesting to watch one of ties of the terrible man-eating tiger. This these snails feeding upon a piece of let- mollusk has a long, worm-like body, the tuce. First the jaw is seen to protrude shell being very small and rudimentary, and to cut off a small piece of the leaf, ear shaped, and placed on the extreme which is drawn into the mouth and re- posterior end of the animal. Its princi- duced to still smaller pieces by the rasp- pal food consists of earth-worms, al ii ke radula. A large piece of lettuce, after though it will attack other mollusks and this snail has made a meal upon it, looks even its own species. It has been likened as if an army of worms had been at work, to the tiger and the shark in its cunning The pomatia is also of an inquisitive dis- while pursuing its prey and in its ferocity position and will wander about the snail- when attacking it. The poor earth-worm ery (or even the whole house if he can stands but a slight chance of escape when get out), examining everything in a very Testacella scents it and starts in pursuit, curious manner. No more interesting ob- The worm tries to escape by retreating ject can be placed in a library or study into its underground galleries, but this is than a snailery with several species of of no avail because the mollusk has a snails. They are far superior in interest long, narrow body and can go wherever to goldfish or canaries. the worm does. If the worm, perchance, The most interesting snails are by no has the opportunity of retreating far into means the largest. Frequently the small its galleries, the mollusk will dig tunnels snail shells with their animals have habits to intercept it. Frequently the mollusk or shell structures of absorbing interest, will make a sudden spring upon its vic- Among these are the Pupas, whose tiny tim, taking it by surprise. This slug-like shells frequently reach the astounding snail will frequently devour a snail much size of one-sixteenth of an inch in length ! larger than itself, but if the victim is too It is not until we place these mites under large for one meal it will be broken in the microscope that their interesting the middle and one half eaten and di- 78 gested and then the meal completed with the other half. The Testacella also resembles the tiger and the shark in the possession of long, fang-like teeth upon its radula. These teeth are recurved and aid the mollusk in getting a firm hold upon its victim, and also assist in the operation of swallowing. It is a curious fact that this animal will not feed upon other dead animals nor upon fresh meat, nor freshly-killed worms. Like the snake, which it greatly resembles in habits, it must hunt and kill its own food. Its wanderings are noctur nal and during the day it remains con cealed, buried in the earth. Testacella is quite long lived, as snails go, its duration of life being about six years. A genus allied to Testacella, and hav ing the same predaceous habits, but be ing protected by a large shell into which the whole animal can withdraw, is the Oleacina or Glandina. The shell is long, with a narrow aperture and a dome- shaped spire ; the animal is long and nar row and the head near the mouth is fur nished with a pair of elongated lips which may be used as tentacles. The South American species feed on the larger mol- lusks, as the Bulimus before spoken of, and the aperture of each intended vic tim's shell is carefully examined before any attempt is made to enter. When our "tiger" is satisfied that its victim is really within, it will enter the aperture and de vour the animal. Sometimes it will make a hole for itself in the shell of its victim and will eat the contents through this aperture instead of the natural one. In Florida these animals prey upon the large pulmonates like Lignus and Orthalicus. Before closing this brief sketch of the Land Mollusks we must not neglect to mention their wonderful protection against the cold of winter and the heat of summer. This is a tough, leathery secre tion, which completely covers the aper ture, and its formation is thus described by Mr. W. G. Binney in his "Manual of American Land Shells." "Withdrawing into the shell, it forms over the aperture a membraneous cover ing, consisting of a thin, semi-transpar ent mixture of lime, mucus or gelatine, secreted from the collar of the animal. This membrane is called the epiphragm. It is formed in this manner : The animal being withdrawn into the shell, the collar is brought to a level with the aperture, and a quantity of mucus is poured out from it and covers it. A small quantity .of air is then emitted from the respira tory foramen, which detaches the mucus from the surface of the collar, and pro jects it in a convex form, like a bubble. At the same moment the animal retreats farther into the shell, leaving a vacuum between itself and the membrane, which is consequently pressed back by the ex ternal air to a level with the aperture, or even farther, so as to form a concave sur face, where, having become desiccated and hard, it remains fixed. These opera tions are nearly simultaneous and occupy but an instant. As the weather becomes colder the animal retires farther into the shell, and makes another septum, and so on, until there are sometimes as many as six of these partitions." The air-breathing snails which we have so briefly discussed in this article, are but a very limited number of the many thousand species of this very interesting group of animals. Their shells are easily gathered and require but little trouble to prepare for the cabinet and for study. The writer, therefore, trusts that what has been written may act as a stimulus and induce many to take up the collection and study of these beautiful objects. Frank Collins Baker. 79 THE GILA MONSTER. (Heloderma suspectum). The reptile fauna of the North Amer- on the floor of the mouth, where it mixes ican continent includes a curious lizard with the saliva, and is transmitted through known as Gila Monster, in science called the bite. Heloderma. It represents a family all A Heloderma has no fangs, but a good- to itself, with only two species : Heloder- ly number of sharp, pointed teeth, both on ma horridum and Heloderma suspectum. the upper and lower jaws. They are Francisco Hernandez, a Spanish phy- curved backward and about an eighth of sician and naturalist, was the first to know an inch long, or even less than that. The of its existence when he found it in Mex- principal characteristic of these teeth is ico in the year 1651. In an account of his that they are grooved, facilitating thus the explorations he mentions a lizard three flow of the venom into the wound. It feet long, with a thick-set body, covered bites with an extremely swift dash, di- with wart-like skin, gaudily colored in or- rected sideways, and holds on tenacious- ange and black, and generally of such ly to whatever is seized with its powerful horrid appearance that Wiegmann, an- jaws. Sumichrast says when the reptile other scientist, two hundred years later, bites it throws itself on its back, but none called it Heloderma horridum. of the later naturalists makes mention of For a long time this name was given in- this peculiarity. discriminately to all lizards of this kind, The venom of the Gila Monster injected living either south or north of the boun- into the veins and arteries of smaller ani- dary line of Mexico and the United States, mals as rats, cavies and rabbits and into till Professor Cope discovered a difference the breast of pigeons and chickens, causes between them and called the variety found death within twenty seconds to seven min- in our southwestern territories and states utes. Brehm relates that a young Helo- Heloderma suspectum. derma, and in poor physical condition be- Many other naturalists have since taken sides, was induced to bite the leg of a up the study of this interesting reptile, large, well-fed cat, which did not die, but The result of their observations and ex- gave signs of prolonged terrible suffer- periments was that they all agree in ac- ings. It became dull and emaciated and knowledging the Heloderma as the only never regained its former good spirits, poisonous lizard in existence, although Among several cases of Gila Monster their opinions are at variance as to the bites inflicted on human beings can be effect of its venom on the human system, quoted that of Dr. Shufeldt, who, in "The Dr. van Denburgh in his latest researches AmericanNaturalist," gave an interesting has found two glands, one on each side of account of the sensations he experienced, the lower jaw, located between the skin It is sufficient to say that the pain, start- and the bone. Such a venom-producing ing from a wound on the right thumb, gland being taken out of its enveloping went like an electric shock through the membrane proves to be not a single body, whole body and was so severe as to cause but an agglomeration of several small the victim to faint. Immediate treatment ones, differing in size, and each emptying prevented more serious consequences, through a separate duct. These glands The Doctor, nevertheless, was a very sick are not directly communicated to the man for several days and began to re- teeth. When the animal is highly irrita- cover only after a week had elapsed, ted, caused by constant teasing or rough The constituents of the venom are as handling or by being trodden upon, the yet not thoroughly known, but it is said poison is emitted by the glands, gathers to be of an alkaline nature, the opposite •* 80 of snake poison, which is acid. It acts beyond these figures are unusually large upon the heart, the spine and the nerve specimens and in very rare instances the centers and causes paralysis. species of our illustration reaches the ex- Other scientists claim the saliva of the traordinary length of two feet. An adult Heloderma is poisonous only in certain Gila Monster weighs about two or three cases and under certain circumstances. It pounds, and in winter less than in sum- may also depend upon the physical condi- mer. tion of the victim at the time the venom The four short and stubby legs seem enters into the system. Yet there is lit- quite out of proportion to the massive tie doubt that, if help is not at hand im- body, much more so as the two pairs are mediately, the bite may prove fatal. widely separated lengthwise of the body. The Apaches stand in dire fear of this When walking the body is elevated, while animal, so that, at least, with their older in rest it lies flat on the ground. Each people no amount of money seems tempt- foot is provided with five digits armed ing enough to make them go near it, with curved white claws, much less to capture one. A former resi- The skin has generally the appearance dent of the territories says both Indians as if covered with rows of uniform beads ; and Mexicans believe firmly that if a Gila but, on closer examination, these beads, Monster only breathes in your face it is or more correctly, tubercles, prove to quite sufficient to cause immediate death, have different shapes and are differently On an old Indian trail, a good day's jour- set, according to the part of the body ney west from the present site of Phoenix, which they cover. On the head from the can be found, crudely outlined on the face nose up to between the eyes they are flat, of a rock, the picture of two Helodermas irregularly cut, closely joined and ad- pursuing a man who runs to save his life, here completely to the skull. Those fol- Numerous hieroglyphic inscriptions tell lowing form polygonal eminences, each probably the story of the event and prove one separated from the other by a circle of not only the prehistoric origin of this tiny dermal granulations, while behind primitive piece of art, but also the errone- the eyes on both sides of the head they are ous ideas which were prevalent in these larger, semi-spherical and stand far apart, remote times, for the reptile never attacks The throat and the nape of the neck are and never pursues. It is safe to say that studded with very closely set small tuber- trie animal has been vastly misrepresented cles, increasing in size only above the fore- at all ages. legs, whence they extend in well-defined, Nature has kindly provided the Helo- transverse rows along the whole upper derma with a compensation for its par- side of the body and the tail. The under tially undeserved bad reputation in giving side of the latter and the abdomen are it beauty. For whosoever looks upon a covered with tessellated scales of a light- fine specimen with unprejudiced eyes can- brown and dull yellow color arranged in not fail to admire at least the combination another handsome pattern, of its colors and especially the odd, ca- A Heloderma's head, with its triangular priciously disposed markings; the deli- shape, is very like that of a venomous cately tinted skin, studded in transverse snake ; it gives the animal — especially rows with shiny tubercles, like so many when it is raised in anger — a truly awe- beads on strings. inspiring appearance. The illustration to this paper is so ex- The wide-cleft mouth reaches far be- cellently made that scarcely any descrip- hind the eyes. These are very small and, tion is necessary as to the animal's ex- like all lizards, provided with eye-lids that terior in color and markings. This Helo- close when the animal sleeps. The eye derma is a little over nineteen inches in itself has a dark-brown iris, with the length by ten inches in circumference of round pupil that indicates diurnal or at the body and five inches at the thickest least semi-nocturnal habits. Between the part of the tail, which makes one-third of nostrils, well in front of the blunt nose, is the total length of the body. When such a wide space. The nostrils are so far down a reptile grows to the size of eighteen as to nearly touch the margin of the su- inches it is called adult. Those growing pra-labial scales. This position denotes 83 terrestrial habits in reptiles rather than an all aquatic life. For to most of them water is indispensable to their welfare. Thus the Gila Monster shows this struc ture as it likes to bathe in shallow water, often for many hours at a time. The crescent-shaped openings of the ears are situated not far from the edge of the mouth, between the head and the neck, and are partly concealed and also protected by the overlapping gular fold ; the tympanum is exposed. The animal sees and hears well. The remaining three senses are more or less concentrated in the tongue which is one of the most re markable features of the Heloderma. It is slightly forked at the tips, half an inch wide and two to three inches long ; it is dark reddish-brown with a shade of pur ple. When in rest it is drawn together into a small, conical shaped mass, scarce ly an inch in length. But as soon as some thing disturbs the usual quietude of the animal the tongue is thrown out immedi ately. In fact, it is used for smelling, tasting, feeling. It is used for measuring depth and distance, for expressing desire and satisfaction; and with what rapidity is this instrument of communication pro jected and retracted! A Gila Monster may be trusted to some extent as long as the tongue is freely used, but if that is not the case it is wise to be careful in handling it. Fear and hostility are expressed by deep, long- drawn hisses ; by opening the mouth to its fullest extent and by quick jerks of the head from one side to the other. At the present time these reptiles are not so very common. Ever-prevailing superstition among the ignorant and ex aggerated bad reputation have brought on a relentless war of extermination against them, so that now in the neighborhood of settlements they are seen seldom if ever. Their center of distribution is more and more confined to the region along the banks of the Gila river in Arizona, al though less frequently they may still be found as far west a& the Mojave desert in California. But those are wrong who be lieve that the Heloderma is living only in the most arid portions of the south west. There are several reasons why the reptile seeks eagerly irrigated places, which are productive of some vegetation, for it needs water, food and shady hiding- places. In the middle of summer, when even the larger streams are dried up, the Gila Monster retires to some burrow, aban doned by another animal, or to deep crev ices in the rocks, and spends there in a torpid state several weeks, until the great rainfalls relieve the country, give fresh plant life and fill again the barren river beds. This is the animal's summer re treat. During the course of a year it takes a second and longer one, the regular hi bernation, that lasts about from Novem ber to the middle of February, when it resumes its outside life again. It loves to bask in the still mild rays of the sun, but as soon as the heat increases the Gila Monster seeks shelter for the day behind stones and bowlders, under clumps of cacti and in small mesquite groves along the river banks. It roams about only after sunset or early in the morning. The idea that this lizard enjoys the quivering heat on an open Arizona plain, while other sun and heat-loving reptiles keep in hiding, is as erroneous as many others. Nothing is so absolutely fatal to the Heloderma as to be exposed only for half an hour to the direct rays of the sun in midsummer. An other reason why it prefers to live in the neighborhood of streams where plant life is more abundant explains itself by the necessityto provide for food. Whoever has an opportunity to observe reptiles in confinement for an extended period of time can easily draw conclusions as to their mode of living in freedom. A captive Gila Monster is fed on hens' eggs ; in summer one each week, in winter one every two or three weeks. It refuses ev ery other kind of food, however tempt ingly it may be offered, such as mice, frogs, angleworms, mealworms and the like. It is more than probable that in their wild state they live on a similar diet, con sisting then of eggs of other lizards, of turtles and of birds. The animal has the reputation of being destructive to the Ari zona quail. Several writers of Natural History add to this a diet of insects, but the embar rassed locomotion of the Heloderma seems to exclude flying and fast-running prey. Nearly all reptiles which feed on eggs climb, as do some snakes, and as 84 does the slow and clumsy Gila Monster, many months without injury to the ani- They are not able to ascend high and mal. straight trees, which, however, are not In captivity the Gila Monster begins to found in these regions, but they are able slough about January and continues this to climb bushes and low trees, having process during several months. The somewhat leaning trunks and rough bark, epidermis comes off not like a snake's, in And it is wonderful to see how cleverly it a whole piece, but in several, or more fre- disposes of the sharp claws and the mus- quently in many, fragments, cular, half-prehensile tail, both in drag- There is still a wide field open for ac- ging itself up and in retarding an often curate observation and definite knowl- ioo rapid descent. edge that we relinquish to the profes- The inquiry may be made : How is it sional naturalist and to those fortunate possible that a Heloderma lives on eggs ones who can study the animal in free- alone when it can find them only during dom. the relatively short time of five or six Amelia Walson. months? First, it may be remembered [Editor's Note: The Gila Monster of that this period corresponds nearly to the the illustration is still living and has for active life of the animal before and after some years been the interesting pet of one estivation. The second and more im- whose love of nature in all forms has portant reason is its remarkable frugality, found beauty in the reptile usually The digestive organs are so constructed shunned alike by the savage and by civil- that they adapt themselves to a fast of ized man.] BIRD NOTES. I. Bit of sunshine taken wings, Or a spray of golden-rod ? On thistle top he sways and swings, Or flung high to the sun, he sings— Perdita— Perdita — Perdita— 'Dita, — Sweet, Sweet — . II. Good morning trolled, then all the day, From thicket hidden bramble bush, This recluse croons his roundelay. But startle him, — a flash of gray, And, Hush — Hush — Hush — Hush- Go 'way, — Go 'way — . III. Wild cherry bough and hanging nest, And calls amid the apple bloom, No need to tell whose flaming breast And fluting note lead all the rest,— Glory — Glory — Glory — Glory- Glory, — Come-O, Come-O — . —Mary Hefferan, 85 THE POMEGRANATE. (Punica granatum.} The Pomegranate is tree-like, growing That the knowledge of this tree is of to a height of about fifteen feet and in great antiquity is shown in many ways, favorable soil even as high as twenty feet. It is frequently referred to in ancient It is probably native in Persia, though it Sanskrit writings of a time earlier than is found in a wild state in all the coun- that of the Christian Era. In this Ian- tries bordering on the Mediterranean guage it was called "Dadimba." Homer,. Sea. It is also found in China and Japan in the Odyssey, speaks of its cultivation and has been brought by man to all of in the gardens of the kings of Phrygia the civilized parts of the globe, where the and Phaecia. There are frequent refer- climate is of a sufficiently high degree of ences to it in the Old Testament. In the warmth to permit the ripening of its directions for making Aaron's robe we fruit. find the following passage : "Upon the This little tree is frequently cultivated skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates not alone for the beauty of its form, but of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet," for the beauty of its flowers, which, un- and again, "They made bells of pure gold, der cultivation, become doubled and and put the bells between the pome- show an increased and striking splendor granates." Hiram, in the building of in the richness of their color. Solomon's house, used the design of the The etymology of its name is very in- Pomegranate. In the seventh chapter of teresting. The word Pomegranate is the First Book of Kings we find "the from two Latin words, pomum, meaning pomegranates were two hundred, in rows apple, and granatum, meaning grained round about upon the other chapiter," or seeded. The former has reference to and in another verse we are told that they the shape of the fruit and the latter word were of brass. to the numerous seeds contained in the Moses spoke of the promised land as pulp. The technical name of the Pome- a land of "wheat, barley and vines, fig- granate plant is Punica granatum. The trees and pomegranates." Solomon in- generic name Punica is evidently from dicates that this fruit was cultivated in his the Latin word punicus, meaning red, and time as he speaks of an "orchard of pome- refers to the red color of the pulp or possi- granates with pleasant fruits." bly also to the scarlet flowers. The name The Pomegranate is frequently repre- Punicus was also used by the Romans sented in the ancient sculptures of the with reference to the Carthaginians, and Assyrians and of the Egyptians, signified untrustworthy or treacherous, The Pomegranate belongs to the fam- this people having such a reputation with ily of plants called Lythraceae. This- them ; thus the name may have been ap- family has about three hundred and fifty plied to this fruit which, though it de- species which are widely distributed, but lights the eye, is disappointing to the are most abundant in tropical regions, taste. especially in America. In discribing the Pliny tells us that the Pomegranate tree Dr. Oliver R. Willis gives the fol- was extensively cultivated by the Cartha- lowing characteristics: "Branches- ginians at their home in Northern Af- straight, strong, sub-angular, armed near rica. This may have been the reason why the ends with spines ; young shoots and the name Punica was selected for the buds red. Leaves opposite or fascicled,, genus by Linnaeus. The Romans also short-stalked, and without stipules, called it "Pomum Punicum," or Car- Flowers large, solitary, or two or three thage apple. together in the axils of the leaves, near / • 86' the ends of the branchlets. A beautiful object for planted grounds." The color of the flowers, which develop on the ends of the younger branches, is a deep and rich scarlet or crimson. Many variations have been produced by grow ing the plants from seeds and one of these bears white flowers. The petals are rounded and usually crumpled. The fruit, which is a berry about the size of an ordinary orange, is when fresh usually of a reddish yellow color, becom ing brownish in drying. The rind is thick and leathery, and encloses a quan tity of pulp which is filled with a refresh ing juice that is acid. It is of a pinkish or reddish color, and encloses the nu merous angular seeds. Probably the chief value of the plant lies in the use of the fruit as a relish, though the rind of the fruit and the bark of the root are used in medicine. The bark contains a large amount of tannin and from it there is also obtained a bright yellow dye, which is used to pro duce the yellow Levant Morocco. In regions without frost the tree is often grown for ornamental purposes. FISHES AND FISH-CULTURE AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. Greek mythology shows us that for a industry has developed and grown to im- long time, perhaps many centuries, the mense proportions. The fishmonger has ancestors of the Greeks knew but very taken on a character which seems des- little about the sea or about rivers. The tined to be eternal. Till this day it has numerous monsters of the sea, products suffered no change except that he has of the imagination, combined in their transferred to his wife some of the traits forms the parts of marine and land ani- that once were his. mals, including man. The angry waves The task of supplying the fish-market suggested to them some creature that was of Athens and other cities must have re- wroth; in the ocean depths what more quired a large number of fishermen, likely to be found than the caverns empty For at this time fish might almost be and dry, the homes of the monsters with called the national dish, hence an enor- which they had peopled it? Their knowl- mous consumption, whereas the means of edge of the sea was of very slow growth, capture were far inferior to those of to- It was yet a divine thing in Homer's time, day. As a matter of fact the market was who lived just before the dawn of history, supplied from a very wide area, but chief- Their knowledge of marine life had made ly from the seas to the east. Far along" but little if any greater advance than their the north and south shores of the Black knowledge of the sea itself. The people Sea the industry was a flourishing one^ of Homer make no use whatever of fish. Particularly from these regions were salt- We do not find a word indicating that ed and dried fish supplied. Here they either noble or slave ate fish, although the were prepared in the huts of the individ- bill of fare in the Homeric household is ual fisherman and were gathered up by given to us with considerable fullness. the traders, who sailed their little boats Passing over two centuries or more to far and wide in search of traffic. The the Athens of Pericles' time, we will find fish were exchanged for merchandise, es- that a great change has been wrought, pecially for earthen utensils and for cloth- Fish is now the daintiest viand that comes ing. These salted and dried fish were the into the Athenian market. The fishing staple varieties and were supplied to the 89 market in great quantities, as they were the principal food of the poorer classes and were sold very cheap. The hours for the fish market in Athens must have been a time of very great in terest, not only to the Athenian house holder but to the foreigner sojourning within the city. To preserve order and also to give all customers an equal chance to procure the rare specimens offered for sale, several stringent laws were enacted to govern the market. Among other reg ulations was one requiring the opening of the market to be announced by the ring ing of a bell. Apparently there was no fixed moment of time when this bell should be rung, but the time varied little from day to day. If we can believe our ancient authorities, the ringing of the bell was the occasion for a rush, pellmell, to the market, each seeking to obtain the first choice, Strabo tells us an interest ing story anent this custom. On one oc casion a musician was performing before a number of invited guests, and when, in the midst of a composition, the bell rang, in a moment the guests were up and away to the market, all except one man, who was deaf. When the lyrist had finished he was very careful to thank his lone auditor for his courtesy in remaining to hear him through, instead of running away when the bell rang, as the rest did. "Oh, has the bell rung?" asked the deaf man. And when informed that it had, he, too, hastened to the mar ket. The Greek interest in fishes seems never to have gone beyond their utility as an article of food. The building of aquaria and fish-ponds never came to be the sport of the Greeks, although they be came extravagant luxuries among the Romans. Likewise fishing never became the sport of a Greek gentleman, unless, perchance, at a rather late period. Plato •excludes fishing from the sports of a free- born gentleman. The only sport he would have him engage in was the chase, which, athletic games aside, was about the only outdoor sport a Greek gentleman seems to have indulged in. For instance, there is no mention in Greek literature of horseback riding as a pastime, yet horse manship was an accomplishment in which every Greek gentleman received special training. Likewise, though fishing was not a recognized sport, yet the science of angling was well understood among them by the third century B. C., and probably much earlier. This we learn from a beau tiful poem by the Alexandrian poet Theo critus, entitled "The Fishermen." I will quote a portion of the poem translated into prose, partly because it gives us a picture of some ancient professional fish ermen in the camp, partly because it men tions all the ancient instruments of the business. "Two fishers, on a time, two old men, together lay and slept; they had strown the dry sea-moss for a bed in their wat tled cabin, and there they lay against the leafy wall. Beside them were strewn the instruments of their toilsome hands, the fishing-creels, the rods of reed, the hooks, the sails bedraggled with sea-spoil, the lines, the weels, the lobster pots woven of rushes, the seines, two oars, and an old coble upon props. Beneath their heads was a scanty matting, their clothes, their sailor's caps. Here was all their toil, here all their wealth. The threshold no door did guard nor a watch-dog; all these things, all, to them seemed superfluity, for Poverty was their sentinel. They had no neighbor by them, but ever against their narrow cabin gently floated up the sea." Long before daylight one of them awoke and aroused his companion to tell him the dream he had had. I shall quote the dream, as it graphically describes ai ancient angler busy at his task : "As was sleeping late, amid the labors of the salt sea (an3 truly not too full-fed, for we supped early, if thou dost remember, and did not overtax our bellies), I saw myself busy on a rock, and there I sat and watch ed the fishes, and kept spinning the bait with the rods. And one of the fish nib bled, a fat one, for in sleep dogs dream of bread, and of fish dream I. Well, he was tightly hooked, and the blood was run ning, and the rod I grasped was bent with his struggle. So, with both hands, I strained and had a sore tussle for the monster. How was I ever to land so big a fish with hooks all too slim ! Then, just to remind him he was hooked, I gently pricked him, pricked, and slackened, and, as he did not run, I took in line. My toil 90 was ended with the sight of my prize ; I the mud removed, as soon as the rain- drew up a golden, look you, a fish all water begins to fill these lakes. They are plated thick with gold. Gently I unhook- not produced in dry weather, not even in ed him * * * then I dragged him on lakes that never become dry, for they live shore with the ropes." on the rain-water. It is, therefore, plain I leave to the reader the pleasant task that their origin is not due to procreation of comparing the ancient tackle with the or to eggs. In spite of this some people modern. It must be said, however, that think that they are viviparous, because the description is rather ideal for the worms have been found in the intestines Mediterranean fisherman displays no of some eels, which they believe are the science in landing his game, but simply young of the eel. This opinion, however, throws it high and dry or breaks his is erroneous, for they are produced from tackle. This fact is well attested for the the so-called 'bowels of the earth' (i. e.r ancients, by several vase and wall paint- the earth-worms), the spontaneous prod- ings portraying fishermen actually at uct of mud and moisture." work. These paintings show us that the Turning now to the Romans, we find a ancient outfit included a basket, frequent- somewhat different state of affairs, but ly with a long handle, and a vase painting different only on the aesthetic side ; from in Vienna undoubtedly suggests its use. a scientific or industrial point of view the The man has caught a fish which he is Roman, though heir to all the Greek civ- lifting straight up out of the water, at the ilization and learning, in this, as in many same time he is reaching down with his other lines, made but slight advances, basket, evidently to scoop up the fish just Fish culture never became a serious oc- before it leaves the water, similar to the cupation among the Romans. It was a practice in trout-fishing to-day. pastime, one of the many directions which Before passing over the Ionian Sea to their senseless luxury took rather than a observe. what the Romans did in this field carefully directed effort to stock ponds of activity, the quasi-scientific study of and rear fish for food, or as a means of fishes among the Greeks, particularly that nature study. The immense ponds of Aristotle, should claim our attention, were stocked with rare fish in preference Compared with the work of the moderns to useful varieties. Next to the rare spe- Aristotle's work was crude indeed. Es- cies those that could be tamed were in fa- timated as the first attempts at building vor. A qualification of the- above state- up a science his work deserves our ad- ments should be made probably, in favor miration and, in view of the fact that his of the Romans who lived during the writings were standard for nearly two early Republican period of whom Colum- thousand years, it demands our respect, ella, a Roman writer, has the following Aristotle did his work in natural his- to say in his book entitled De Re Rustica : tory under the patronage of King Philip 'The descendants of Romulus, although of Macedon, who drew upon the re- they were country folk, took great pains sources of the empire to provide him with in having upon their farms a sort of rare or little known specimens from far abundance of everything which the in- and wide. How some of his conclusions habitants of the city are wont to enjoy, were based on insufficient data and are To this end they did not rest contented consequently very inaccurate, or even with stocking with fish the ponds that grotesque, his discussion of the eel will had been made for this purpose, but in illustrate. It must not be taken as a fair their foresight went to the extent of sup- sample of his work in general. In fact, it plying the ponds formed by nature with is very unusual. "Among all the ani- the spawn of fish. By this means the mals," he says, "which have blood, the eel lakes Velinus and Sabitinus, and likewise is the only one which is not born of copu- Vulsmensis and Ciminus have furnished lation or hatched from eggs. The cor- in great abundance not only catfish and rectness of this statement is evident from goldfish, but also all the other varieties of the fact that eels make their appearance fish which flourish in fresh water." Such in marshy bodies of water, and that, too, were the practices of the Roman country after all the water has been drawn off and folk in early times, but, strange as it may 91 seem in view of the extravagance of which the fish pond became the object in later times, no measures were taken to secure the reproduction and free development of staple food fishes. It is well known that the ancients had a remarkable predilection for fish as a food. The principal luxury of the Ro man banquets consisted of fish, and the poets speak of sumptuous tables spread with them exclusively. In the period be tween the taking of Carthage and the reign of Vespasian, this taste became a perfect passion, and for its gratification the senators and patricians, enriched by the spoils of Asia and Africa, incurred the most foolish expense. Thus Licinius Murena, Quintus Hortensius and Lucius Philippus, spent millions on their fish ponds and in stocking them with rare species. Lucullus was by far the most extravagant of these fish fanciers. A fish pond was to him very much what the yacht is to the modern millionaire. It is his name that we find so frequently in Cicero's letters, when he and his set come in for several cleverly-framed rebukes. "No matter," says Cicero, "about the state, if only their fish-ponds escape harm." It was Lucullus who had a chan nel cut through a mountain at an im mense outlay of money, in order to let salt water into his fish-ponds. We are told by Varro that one Hirrius had an income of nearly $700,000 from his Roman real estate, and spent the whole amount on his fish-ponds. Some of these fish-ponds were very elaborate. They were constructed with many com partments, in which they kept the differ ent varieties. The care of these ponds, and the feeding of the animals, required a large force of trained men and assistants who, we can infer, learned a great deal about the habits of fishes, their favorite food, and how to propagate them, but their information was never reduced to anything like a science. That foolish extravagance of the Ro man nobles produced but two results, the less of which was the impoverishment of some of Rome's wealthiest families ; the other and more unfortunate result was the destruction of the fishes along the Mediterranean Sea. Probably the sole contribution to fish- culture resulting from all this extrava gance, was the introduction of gold-fish into an artificial habitat and providing them shell-fish for nourishment. In conclusion, I will note some of the forms that were most popular among the Romans, either for table use or for the aquarium. For these we are indebted to a mosaic discovered in Pompeii. They are formed as they were seen by the artist in an aquarium, but in the mosaic they are supposed to be seen as if in the sea. The varieties found are : They grey mul let, electric ray, gilt-head, muraena, scor pion fish, crawfish, devil-fish, dog-fish, red-mullet, bass, spinola, red gumara, nautis prawn, and from another mosaic may be added the soft prawn, squid and some other species whose English names I do not know. T. Louis Comparette. 92. FROM KCEMLER'S MEOICINAL-PFUANZEN. QOO CASSIA CINNAMON. CHICAGO: A. W. MUMFORD, PUBl CINNAMON. (Cinnamomum cassia blume.) "Sinament and ginger, nutmegs and cloves, And that gave me my jolly red nose." —Ravenscroft, Deuteromela, Song 7 (1609}. The cinnamons of the market are the inner barks obtained from trees of tropi cal countries and islands. The plants are quite ornamental ; twenty to forty feet high ; smooth, enduring, green, simple and entire leaves. The flowers are small and very insignificant in appearance. Cinnamon is an old-time, highly- priced spice. It is mentioned in the herb book of the Chinese emperor Schen-nung (2700 B. C), where it is described under the name Kwei. From China it was in troduced into Egypt about 1600 or 1500 B. C. The cinnamon and cassia men tioned in the Bible were introduced by the Phoenicians. About 400 or 300 B. C. cinnamon still belonged to the rarities of the market and little was known regard ing its origin and cultivation. Plinius stated that it was not a native of Arabia, but does not explain what its native coun try was. About the fourth century of our era cinnamon found its way into Tur key and Asia Minor, where it was em ployed as incense in church ceremonies. In the sixth century Trallianus recom mended the still very expensive spice for medicinal purposes. During the tenth century the price of this article became much reduced and it was used as a spice, principally in the preparation of fish meats. In England it was used in veter inary practice. Although China is un doubtedly the home of the cinnamons they were apparently entirely overlooked by Alarco Polo, the eminent traveler and historian, who visited the greater part of China. Oil of cinnamon was prepared as early as 1540. There are several varieties of cinnamon upon the market. Cassia cinnamon, which is a Chinese variety, is obtained from Cinnamomum cassia. The bark is quite thick and contains onlv a small amount of volatile or ethereal oil. It is of little value yet it is exported on a large scale. It forms the cheap cinnamon of the mar ket. There are other Chinese cinnamons of good quality which constitute the prin cipal commercial article. The Saigon cinnamon is by far the best article. It also is Chinese, obtained from an unde termined species. It is the strongest and spiciest of the cinnamons and it is the only variety official in the United States Pharmacopoeia. The bark is of medium thickness, deep reddish brown and rich in volatile oil. The Ceylon cinnamon, from India, is noted for the delicacy of its flavor, but it contains comparatively lit tle volatile oil. The bark is very thin and of a lighter brown color than that of the Saigon cinnamon. Nearly all of the cinnamon of the mar ket is obtained from cultivated plants. There are large plantations in southeast ern China, Cochin-China, India, Sunda islands, Sumatra, Java and other tropical countries and islands. In many instances little or nothing is known regarding the cultivation, collecting and curing of cin namons. As a rule the trees are pruned for convenience in collecting the bark. In the better-grade cinnamons the bark from the younger twigs only (ij to 2 years old) is collected. This is removed in quills, the outer corky inert layers being discarded and dried. As the drying pro ceeds the smaller quills are telescoped in to the larger for convenience in handling, packing and shipping. The color changes to a reddish brown and the aroma in creases. Two crops are collected an nually ; one, the principal crop, in May and June ; the second from November to January. The blossoms are formed dur ing May and June and the fruit ripens in January ; these periods correspond to the 95 periods of collecting. The older, dry, corky bark should not be collected, as it contains little volatile oil. In all care fully prepared cinnamons the outer bark layers are removed by scraping. Cinnamon is quite frequently adulter ated; poor qualities are substituted for good qualities or added to the better qualities. This applies especially to ground cinnamon. Cinnamon is one of the richest of the spices. Its flavor is quite universally liked. It is employed in pies and other pastry, in drinks, in the preparation of hair oils and hair tonics,, in confection ery, with pickles, etc., etc. Medicinally it is employed as a corrective, in dysen tery and in coughs. The excessive con sumption of spices, cinnamon included, is a pernicious practice, as may be gath ered from the opening quotation from Ravenscroft. Spices cause pathological changes in stomach, the liver and other glandular' organs in particular. Quite frequently those addicted to the use of spices are also addicted to the use of al coholic drinks, and it is more than likely that the "jolly red nose" referred to was caused by the alcoholic stimulants rath er than the spices. The not fully matured flowers are known as cassia buds and are used as a spice. They are not unlike cloves in ap pearance. The roots of the various cin namon trees yield camphor. The leaves yield volatile oil and the seeds a faintly aromatic fat. Description of Plate : A, flowering twig; i, diagram of flower; 2, 3, flower; 4, stamen ; 5, pistil ; 6, fruit. Albert Schneider. AT DUSK. Dark shadows fall upon the earth, Cool vapors rise in air, The screech-owl in the copse is heard, The bees are freed from care. The butterfly has closed its wings, The lark has gone to rest; The nightingale in tree-top sings; To sleep the crow thinks best. The lightning bug glows in the brake; The cricket chirps beneath the stone; The whip poor will is yet awake, The bull-frog calls in deep, low tone. The flowers droop their weary heads, The leaves are nodding in the breeze; Young birdlings sleep in downy beds; Squirrels are resting in the trees. The bats are flying low and high; The fishes rest in waters deep. The red has gone from western sky, All nature soon will be asleep. Albert Schneider. BIRDS AND NftTURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. IX. MARCH, 1901. No. 3 SPRING. Gentle Spring! in sunshine clad, Well dost thou thy power display! For Winter maketh the light heart sad, And thou, thou makest the sad heart gay. He sees thee, and calls to his gloomy train, The sleet, and the snow, and the wind, and the rain; And they shrink away, and they flee in fear, When thy merry step draws near. Winter giveth the fields and the trees, so old, Their beards of icicles and snow; And the rain, it raineth so fast and cold, We must cower over the embers low; And, snugly housed from the wind and weather, Mope like birds that are changing feather. But the storm retires, and the sky grows clear, When thy merry step draws near. Winter maketh the sun in the gloomy sky Wrap him around with a mantle of cloud; But, Heaven be praised, thy step is nigh; Thou tearest away the mournful shroud, And the earth looks bright, and Winter surly, Who has toiled for naught both late and early, Is banished afar by the new born year, When thy merry step draws near. —From the French of Charles D'Orleans, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 97 ABOUT PARROTS. • i. • Naturalists place^the parrot group at between touch and intellect. The opos- the head of bird creation. This is done, sum is a marsupial ; it belongs to the same not, of course, because parrots can talk, group of lowly-organized, antiquated and but because they display, on the whole, pouch-bearing animals as the kangaroo, a greater amount of intelligence, of the wombat, and other Australian mam- cleverrtess and adaptability to circum- mals. Everybody knows that the mar- stances than other birds, including even supials, as a class, are preternaturally their cunning rivals, the ravens and du\\ — are perhaps the least intelligent of the jackdaws. all existing quadrupeds. And this is It may well be asked what are the causes reasonable when one considers the sub- of the exceptionally high intelligence in ject) for they represent a very early type, parrots. The answer which I suggest is the first "rough sketch" of the mam- that an intimate connection exists malian idea, with brains unsharpened as throughout the animal world between yet by contact with the world in the fierce mental development and the power of competition of the struggle for life as it grasping an object all round, so as to displays itself on the crowded stage of the know exactly its shape and its tactile great continents. They stand, in fact, properties. The possession of an effec- to the lions and tigers, the elephants and tive prehensile organ — a hand or its horses, the monkeys and squirrels of equivalent — seems to be the first great America and Europe, as the native Aus- requisite for the evolution of a high or- tralian stands to the American or the der of intellect. Man and the monkeys, Englishman. They are the last relic of for example, have a pair of hands ; and the original secondary quadrupeds, in their case one can see at a glance how stranded for centuries on a Southern dependent is their intelligence upon these island, and still keeping up among Aus- grasping organs. All human arts base tralian forests the antique type of life that themselves ultimately upon the human went out of fashion elsewhere a vast num- hand ; and our nearest relatives, the an- ber of years ago. Hence they have brains thropoid apes, approach humanity to of poor quality, a fact amply demon- some extent by reason of their ever-active strated by the kangaroo when one and busy little fingers. The elephant, watches his behavior in the zoological again, has his flexible trunk, which, as gardens. we have all heard over and over again, is Every high-school graduate is well equally well adapted to pick up a pin or aware that the opossum, though it is a to break the great boughs of tropical for- marsupial, differs in psychological devel- est trees. The squirrel, also, remarkable opment from the kangaroo and the wom- for his unusual intelligence when judged bat. The opossum is active and highly by a rodent standard, uses his little paws intelligent. He knows his way about the as hands by which he can grasp a nut or world in which he lives. "A 'possum up a fruit all round, and so gain in his small gum tree" is accepted by observant mind a clear conception of its true shape minds as the very incarnation of animal and properties. Throughout the animal cunning and duplicity. In negro folk- kingdom generally, indeed, this chain of lore the resourceful 'possum takes the causation makes itself everywhere felt ; place of the fox in European stories ; he no high intelligence without a highly-de- is the Macchiavelli of wild beasts ; there veloped prehensile and grasping organ. is no ruse on earth of which he is not Perhaps the opossum is the best and amply capable; and no wily manoeuvre most crucial instance that can be found exists which he cannot carry to an end of the intimate connection which exists successfully. All guile and intrigue, the 98 "possum can circumvent even Uncle highly developed and serviceable tactile Remus himself by his crafty diplomacy, organs will they rank high or low in the And what is it that makes all the differ- intellectual hierarchy of nature. It may ence between this 'cute marsupial and his well be asked how all this concerns the backward Australian cousins ? It is the family of parrots. In the first place, any- possession of a prehensile hand and tail, body who has ever kept a parrot or a Therein lies the whole secret. The opos- macaw in slavery is well aware that in no sum's hind foot has a genuine apposable other birds do the claws so closely resem- thumb ; and he also uses his tail in climb- ble a human or simian hand, not indeed ing as a supernumerary hand, almost as in outer form or appearance, but in ap- much as do any of the monkeys. He posability of the thumbs and in perfec- often suspends himself by it, like an ac- tion of grasping power. The toes upon robat, swings his body to and fro to ob- each foot are arranged in opposite pairs — tain speed, then lets go suddenly, and two turning in front and two backward, flies away to a distant branch, which he which gives all parrots their peculiar clutches by means of his hand-like hind firmness in clinging on a perch or on the foot. If the toes make a mistake, he can branch of a tree with one foot only, while recover his position by the use of his pre- they extend the other to grasp a fruit or hensile tail. The result is that the opos- to clutch at any object they desire to pos sum, being able to form for himself clear sess. This peculiarity, it must be admit- and accurate conceptions of the real ted, is not confined to the parrots, for they shapes and relations of things by these share the division of the foot into two two distinct grasping organs, has ac- thumbs and two fingers with a large quired an unusual amount of general in- group of allied birds, called, in the ex- telligence. And further, in the keen com- act language of technical ornithology, petition for life, he has been forced to de- the Scansorial Picarians, and more gen- velop an amount of cunning which leaves erally known by their several names of his Australian poor relations far behind cockatoos, toucans and wood-peckers, in the Middle Ages of psychological evo- All the members of this great group, of lution. which the parrots proper are only the At the risk of appearing to forsake my most advanced and developed family, ostensible subject altogether, I must possess the same arrangement of the pause for a moment to answer a very ob- digits into front-toes and back-toes, and vious objection to my argument. How in none is the power of grasping an object about the dog- and the horse ? They have all round so completely developed and no prehensile organ, and yet they are ad- so full of intellectual consequences, mitted to be the most intelligent of all All the Scansorial Picarians are essen- quadrupeds. The cleverness of the horse tially tree-haunters ; and the tree-haunt- and the dog, however, is acquired, not ing and climbing habit seems specially original. It has arisen in the course of favorable to the growth of intellect, long and hereditary association with man, Monkeys, squirrels, opossums, wild cats, the cleverest and most serviceable indi- are all of them climbers, and all of them, viduals having been deliberately selected in the act of climbing, jumping, and bal- from generation to generation as dams ancing themselves on boughs, gain such and sires to breed from. We cannot fair- an accurate idea of geometrical figures, ly compare these artificial human pro- distance, perspective and the true nature ducts with wild races whose intelligence is of space-relations, as could hardly be ac- entirely self-evolved. In addition, the quired in any other way. In a few words, horse has, to a slight extent, a prehensile they thoroughly understand the tactual organ in his mobile and sensitive lip, realities that answer to and underlie each which he uses like an undeveloped or ru- visible appearance. This is, in my opin- dimentary proboscis with which he can ion, one of the substrata of all intelli- feel things all over. We may conclude, gence; and the monkeys, possessing it I believe, that touch is "the mother- more profoundly than any other animals, tongue of the senses ;" and that in pro- except man, have accordingly reached a portion as animals have or have not very high place in" the competitive ex- 101 amination perpetually taking place un der the name of Natural Selection. So, too, among birds, the parrots and their allies climb trees and rocks with exceptional ease and agility. Even in their own department they are the great feathered acrobats. Anybody who watches a wood-pecker, for example, grasping the bark of a tree with its crooked and pow erful toes, while it steadies itself behind by digging its stiff tail-feathers into the crannies of the outer rind, will readily understand how clear a notion the bird must gain into the practical action of the laws of gravity. But the true parrots go a step further in the same direction than the wood-peckers or the toucans ; for in addition to prehensile feet, they have also a highly-developed prehensile bill, and within it a tongue which acts in reality as an organ of touch. They use their crooked beaks to help them in climbing from branch to branch ; and being thus . provided alike with wings, hands, fingers, bill and tongue, they are the most truly arboreal of all known animals, and pre sent in the fullest and highest degree all the peculiar features of the tree-haunting existence. Nor is this all. Alone among birds or mammals, the parrots have the curious peculiarity of being able to move the up per as well as the lower jaw. It is this strange mobility of both the mandibles together, combined with the crafty effect of the sideways glance from those artful eyes, that gives the characteristic air of intelligence and wisdom to the parrot's face. We naturally expect so clever a bird to speak. And when it turns upon us suddenly with some well-known maxim, we are not astonished at its re markable intelligence. Parrots are true vegetarians ; with a single degraded exception, to which I shall recur hereafter, they do not touch animal food. They live chiefly upon a diet of fruit and seeds, or upon the abun dant nectar of rich tropical flowers. And it is mainly for the purpose of getting at their chosen food that they have devel oped the large and powerful bills which characterize the family. Most of us have probably noticed that many tropical fruit- eaters, like the hornbills and the toucans, are remarkable for the size and strength of their beaks ; and the majority of thinking people are well acquainted with the fact that tropical fruits often have thick or hard or bitter rinds, which must be torn off before the monkeys or birds, for whose use they are intended, can get at them and eat them. As monkeys use their fingers in place of knives and forks, so birds use their sharp and powerful bills. No better nut crackers and fruit-parers could possibly be found. The parrot, in particular, has developed for the purpose his curved and inflated beak — a wonderful weapon, keen as a tailor's scissors, and moved by pow erful muscles on both sides of the face which bring together the cutting edges with extraordinary energy. The way the bird holds a fruit gingerly in one claw, while he strips off the rind dexterously with his under-hung lower mandible, and keeps a sharp look-out meanwhile for a possible intruder, suggests1 to the observ ing mind the whole living drama of his native forest. One sees in that vivid world the watchful monkey ever ready to swoop down upon the tempting tail- feathers of his hereditary foe ; one sees the parrot ever prepared for his rapid at tack, and eager to make him pay with five joints of his tail for his impertinent interference with an unoffending fellow- citizen of the arboreal community. Of course there are parrots and par rots. The great black cockatoo, for ex ample, the largest of the tribe, lives al most exclusively upon the central shoot of palm-trees ; an expensive kind of food, for when once this so-called "cabbage" has been eaten the tree dies, so that each black cockatoo must have killed in his time whole groves of cabbage-palms. Other parrots live on fruits and seeds ; and quite a number are adapted for flower-haunting and honey-sucking. As a group, the parrots must be com paratively modern birds. Indeed, they could have no place in the world till the big tropical fruits and nuts were begin ning to be developed. And it is now gen erally believed that fruits and nuts are for the most. part of recent and special evolution. To put the facts briefly, the monkeys and parrots developed the fruits and nuts, while the fruits and nuts returned the compliment by developing 102 conversely the monkeys and parrots. In as well as to the structure of their peculiar other words, both types grew up side by brush-like honey-collector. In most par- side in mutual dependence, and evolved rots the mouth is dry and the tongue themselves pari passu for one another's horny ; but in the lories it is moist and benefit. Without the fruits there could much more like the same organ in the be no fruit-eaters ; and without the fruit- humming-birds and the sun-birds. The eaters to disperse their seeds, there could prevalence of very large and brilliantly- not be any great number of fruits. colored flowers in the Malayan region Most of the parrots very much resem- must be set down- for the most part to ble the monkeys and other tropical fruit- the selective action of the color-loving, eaters in their habits and manners. They brush-tongued parrots, are gregarious, mischievous and noisy. The Australian continent and New They have no moral sense, and are fond Zealand, as everybody knows, are the of practical jokes. They move about in countries where everything goes by con- flocks, screeching aloud as they go, and traries. And it is here that the parrot alight together on some tree well covered group has developed some of its most with berries. No doubt they herd to- curious offshoots. One would imagine gether for the sake of protection, and beforehand that no two birds could be screech both to keep the flock in a body more unlike in every respect than the and to strike consternation into the gaudy, noisy, gregarious cockatoos and breasts of their enemies. When danger the sombre, nocturnal, solitary owls. Yet threatens, the first bird that perceives it the New Zealand owl-parrot is a lory sounds a note of warning; and in a mo- which has assumed all the appeararfces ment the whole troupe is on the wing at and habits of an owl. A lurker in the twi- once, vociferous and eager, roaring forth light or under the shades of night, bur- a song in their own tongue, which may rowing for its nest in holes in the ground, be interpreted to mean that they are it has dingy brown plumage like the owls, ready to fight if it is necessary. with an undertone of green to bespeak its The common gray parrot, the best parrot origin; while its face is entirely known in confinement of all his kind, and made up of two great disks, surrounding unrivalled as an orator for his graces of the eyes, which succeed in giving it a speech, is a native of West Africa. .He most marked and unmistakable owl-like feeds in a general way upon palm-nuts, appearance. bananas, mangoes, and guavas, but he is Why should a parrot so strangly dis- by no means averse, if opportunity offers, guise itself and belie its ancestry ? The to the Indian corn of the industrious na- reason is not difficult to discover. It tive. It is only in confinement that this found a place for itself ready made in na- bird's finer qualities come out, and that it ture. New Zealand is a remote and develops into a speechmaker . of distin- sparsely-stocked island, peopled by vari- guished attainments. ous forms of life from adjacent but still A peculiar and exceptional offshoot of distant continents. There are no danger- the parrot group is the brush-tongued ous enemies there. Here, then, was a lory, several species of which are com- great opportunity for a nightly prowler, mon in Australia and India. These in- The owl-parrot, with true business in teresting birds are parrots which have a stinct, saw the opening thus clearly laid resemblance to humming birds. Flitting before it, and took to a nocturnal and about from tree to tree with great rapid- burrowing life, with the natural conse- ity, they thrust their long extensible quence that those forms survived which tongues, penciled with honey-gathering were dingy in color. Unlike the owls, hairs, into the tubes of many big tropical however, the owl-parrot, true to the veg- blossoms. The lories, indeed, live entire- etarian instincts of the whole lory race, ly on nectar, and they are so common in lives almost entirely upon sprigs of the region they have made their own that mosses and other creeping plants. It is the larger flowers there present the ap- thus essentially a ground bird ; and as it pearance of having been developed with feeds at night in a country possessing no a special view to their tastes and habits, native beasts of prey, it has almost lost 103 the power of flight, and uses its wings only as a sort of parachute to break its fall in descending from a rock or a tree to its accustomed feeding-ground. To ascend a steep place or a tree, it climbs, parrot-like, with its hooked claws, up the surface of the trunk or the face of the precipice. Even more aberrant in its ways, how ever, than the burrowing owl-parrot, is that other strange and hated New Zea land lory, the kea, which, alone among its kind, has adjured the gentle ancestral vegetarianism of the cockatoos and macaws, in favor of a carnivorous diet of remarkable ferocity. And what is stranger still, this evil habit has been de veloped in the kea since the colonization of New Zealand by the British, the most demoralizing of new-comers, as far as all aborigines are concerned. The Eng lish settlers have taught the Maori to wear silk hats and to drink strong liquors, and they have thrown temptation in the way of even the once innocent native par rot. Before the white man came, the kea was a mild-mannered, fruit-eating or honey-sucking bird. But as soon as sheep-stations were established on the island these degenerate parrots began to acquire a distinct taste for raw mutton. At first they ate only the offal that was thrown out from the slaughter-houses, picking the bones as clean of meat as a dog or a jackal. But in course of time, as the taste for blood grew, a new and debased idea entered their heads. If dead sheep are good to eat, are not living ones ? The keas, having pondered deeply over this abstruse problem, solved it in the affirmative. Proceeding to act upon their convictions, they invented a truly hideous mode of procedure. A number of birds hunt out a weakly member of a flock, almost always after dark. The sheep is worried to death by the combined efforts of the parrots, some of whom perch themselves upon the animal's back and tear open the flesh, their object being to reach the kidneys, which they devour at the earliest possible moment. As many as two hundred ewes are said to have been killed in a single night on one "station" — ranch, we should call it. I need hardly say that the New Zealand sheep-farmer resents this irregular procedure, so op posed to all ideas of humanity, to -say nothing of good-farming, and, as a re sult, the existence of the kea is now lim ited to a few years. But from a purely psychological point of view the case is in teresting, as being the best recorded in stance of the growth of a new and com plex instinct actually under the eyes of human observers. A few words as to the general coloring of the parrot group. Tropical forestine birds have usually a ground tone of green because that color enables them best to escape notice among the monotonous verdure of equatorial woodland scenery. In the north, it is true, green is a very conspicuous- color; but that is only be cause for half the year our trees are bare, and even during the other half they lack that "breadth of tropic shade" which characterizes the forests of ajl hot coun tries. Therefore, in temperate climates, the common ground-tone of birds is brown, to harmonize with the bare boughs and leafless twigs, the dead grass or stubble. But in the ever-green tropics, green is the proper hue for concealment or defense. Therefore the psrrots, the most purely tropical family of birds on earth, are chiefly greenish ; and among the smaller and more defenceless sorts, like the little love-birds, where the need for protection is greatest, the green of the plumage is almost unbroken. Green, in truth, must be regarded as the basal parrot tint, from which all other colors are special decorative variations. But fruit-eating and flower-feeding creatures — such as butterflies and hum ming birds — seeking their food among the brilliant flowers and bright berries, almost invariably acquire a taste for va ried coloring, and by the aid of the fac tor in evolution, known as sexual selec tion, this taste stereotypes itself at last upon their wings and plumage. They choose their mates for their attractive coloring. As a consequence, all the larger and more gregarious parrots, in which the need for concealment is less, tend to diversify the fundamental green of their coats with red, yellow or blue, which in some cases takes possession of the entire body. The largest kinds of all, like the great blue and yellow or crim son macaws, are as gorgeous as birds well 104 FROM COL. CHI. ACAD SCIENCES. GRAY PARROT (AFRICA). COPYRIGHT 1901, A W. MUMFOBO, CH could be ; they are also the species least mimicry of the human voice. Parrots afraid of enemies. In Brazil, it is said, and some other birds, on the contrary, they may often be seen moving about in like the mocking bird, being endowed pairs in the evening with as little attempt with considerable flexibility of voice, imi- at concealment as storks in Germany. tate either songs or spoken words with Even the New Zealand owl-parrot still great distinctness. In the parrot the retains many traces of his original green- power of attention is also very considera- ness, mixed with the brown and dingy ble, for the bird will often repeat to itself yellow of his nocturnal and burrowing the lesson it has decided to learn. But nature. most of us forget that at best the parrot I now turn to the parrot's power of knows only the general application of a mimicry in human language. This power sentence, not the separate meanings of its is only an incidental result of the general component words. It knows, for exam- intelligence of parrots, combined with the pie, that 'Tolly wants a lump of sugar" other peculiarities of their social life and is a phrase often followed by a gift of forestine character. Dominant wood- food; But to believe it can understand land animals, like monkeys and parrots, an exclamation like "What a homely lot at least if vegetarian in their habits, are of parrots !" is to credit the bird with almost always gregarious, noisy, mis- genuine comprehension. A careful con- chievous, a'nd imitative. And the imita- sideration of the evidence has convinced tion results directly from a somewhat almost all scientific men that, at the most, high order of intelligence. The power a parrot knows the meaning of a sentence of intellect, in all except the very highest in the same way as a dog understands the phases, is merely the ability to accurately meaning of "Rats" or a horse knows the imitate another. Monkeys imitate action significance of "Get up." to a great extent, but their voices are Lawrence Irwell. hardly flexible enough for very much How can our fancies help but go Out from this realm of mist and rain, Out from this realm of sleet and snow, When the first Southern violets blow? -Thomas Bailey Aldrich, "Spring in New England.' 107 POLLY. Letty was out under the big elm tree watching the kitten playing with the au tumn leaves that were on the ground. Suddenly something struck Letty on the shoulder. She looked around quick ly, thinking that somebody had thrown a stone at her. No one was in sight, though she looked all about and even up in the tree. Then she noticed that the kitten was rolling something with its paws. She stooped and picked up what looked like a little bunch of elm leaves. She thought it strange that they should be stuck together, and when she found that it was quite heavy she was still more surprised. She carried it into the house to show to her mother. "What is it ?" she asked. "It came down off the tree and hit me on my shoulder. Is there a stone inside of it?" "No," said her mother. "It is a chrys alis. Some worm that lived on the elm tree drew these leaves together and spun a little case inside, and when the leaves were ready to fall, the chrysalis came down with them." "What kind of a worm do you suppose it was ?" "I do not know, but it must have been a large one, or the chrysalis would not be so heavy. We will keep it, and in the spring when the worm has turned into a butterfly and comes out of the case, per haps we can learn what its name is.'" "But how will it get out?' asked Letty, anxiously. "It is so hard and tough. I tried to pull off one of the leaves and it stuck on tight." "Yes," said her mother, "it is very tough and you could not tear it open with your ringers even if you tried very hard. But the butterfly throws out some kind of fluid which softens the silk — for it is a kind of silk, you know — and makes a hole large enough to crawl through. It do.es not have to be very big, as the but terfly's wings are soft and wet. It has to let them dry and grow strong and stiff before it can fly." The chrysalis was put in a safe place and Letty forgot all about it for many months, which was not strange when there were so many things for her to do all through the winter and early spring. But her mother did not forget, and one day in June she called Letty in from her play telling her that she had something to show her. "Do you remember the elm chrysalis ?" she asked, and she put it in Letty's hand. "Why how light it is !" she cried. "The butterfly has come out, oh ! where is it ?" Her mother led the way to the plant stand. "See, on that begonia," she said. "Oh, oh !" cried Letty, "what a beauti ful butterfly!" It was very large, nearly five inches across when its wings were spread. It was dull yellow, with darker shadings, a little red in waving lines, and a gray stripe along the front edge of its outer wings. It was quite furry, especially the large yellow body. Each of the four wings had a transparent eye spot, and the under wings had a good deal of black about these little round windows, as Let ty called tli em. "And, mamma, see! It has beautiful little dark-blue eyes." "Yes, it has, but I did not notice them before." "Well, what kind of a butterfly is it?" "It is not a butterfly at all." "Not a butterfly?" said Letty, sur prised. "No ; it is a moth. Have you noticed its antennae — the horns on the front of its head?" "They look like feathers," said Letty ; "no, like ferns." "So they do," said her mother. "Well, 108 that is how we know it is not a butterfly, for they have thread-like antennae, with a little knob on the end. Moths fly by night and that is probably why this one stays so still now." "I wish I knew its name," said Letty. "If you will take my card and run over to the public library and ask the librarian to give you a book that tells about moths and butterflies, we will find out." Letty came back in a little while with the book and her mother began to look in it. "Oh!" she said pretty soon, "it has such a long name that I don't believe you can remember it. It is Telea poly- phemus." "I'll call it Polly for short," said Letty. When they had learned all they could about the moth Letty asked what they should do with it. "This book says they do no very great harm," said her mother, "and it is so beautiful that I think we will let it have its liberty." So the Telea polyphemus was carried out and placed on a tree trunk where it stayed all the rest of the day. But the next morning when Letty went to look for it, it was gone. Susan Brown Robbins. Hark! 't is the bluebird's venturous strain High on the old fringed elm at the gate— Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying bough, Alert, elate, Dodging the fitful spits of snow, New England's poet-laureate Telling us Spring has come again! — Thomas Bailey Aldrich, "Spring in New England." 109 THE AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos.} In the year 1758 the naturalist Linna- these birds, however, is the large pouch eus gave to the birds called Pelicans the formed by an elastic skin depending from generic name Pelecanus. In this genus the two sides of the lower mandible and he also placed the cormorants and the extending nearly the whole length of the gannets. These with the snake-birds, bill. This pouch may be greatly distend- the frigate-birds and the tropic-birds were ed and will hold a large quantity of either for a long time grouped together under soiid Or liquid matter. The bills are de- the family name Pelecanidae. This name, pressed and strongly hooked, however, is now restricted to the various The American White Pelican ranges species of the Pelicans which are includ- throughout the whole of North America ed in a single genus. as far north, in the interior, as the 61° The generic name Pelecanus and the north latitude, and as far to the south- common name, Pelkan are derived from ward in winter as Central America, pelekan, the Greek name for these birds. Northward from Florida, along the At- They were well known to the ancients by lantic coast, it is now rare, whom they were . called Ornacrotalus. In the year 1838 Audubon gave this There is a legend of great antiquity for species the specific name Americanus, in which there is no foundation in fact, which view of his discovery that it differed in states that the pelican feeds to her young essential characteristics from the Euro- blood drawn from her own breast, in pean form, called Ornacrotalus. The most which she herself has made the incision, marked difference that he noticed was the There are about ten species of pelicans crest upon the upper mandible which he distributed throughout the world, mostly supposed was permanent t..rH not, as we confined to those countries having warm now know, a characteristic of tins species climates. Two or three species, however, only during the breeding season. In writ- extend their range into the colder re- ing of the naming of this species he uses gions during the summer months. Three the following beautiful language : "In of the species inhabit North America and consequence of this discovery, I have two of these are seldom seen except on honored it with the name of my beloved the sea coasts ; the brown pelican (Pele- country, over the mighty streams of canus fuscus) on the Atlantic coast and which may this splendid bird wander free the California brown pelican (Pelecanus and unmolested to the most distant times, californicus) on the Pacific coast. The as it has already done in the misty ages of other species is the bird of our illustra- unknown antiquity." tion, and is common in the interior as Much as we desire to honor Audubon, well as on the seaboard of California. who has given us so much of interest con- The pelicans are notably social in their cerning the life histories of the birds, yet habits, a large number nesting together, we are restrained by the rules of scientific The flight of a large flock is an attractive naming, which require under ordinary sight. Their wings move in unison and circumstances, the use of the earliest apparently without much effort. After a name. Audubon's name was -antedated few strokes of the wings they frequently by that of Gmelin, a German Naturalist, sail, forming graceful circles, often at who in 1788 noticing the peculiar charac- great,.eleyations. teristics of the American White Pelican •THe/rnos't remarkable characteristic of and that it differed from the European 10 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos.) PYRIGHT 1901, BY i, CHICAGO T:I. form, gave it the name erythrorhynchos, est, eagerly engaged in taking life in order which is now used by ornithologists. This to sustain life. All sea-birds know this, name has its origin in two Greek words, and the time of its coming well. The meaning red and bill. White Pelicans, that have been patiently The peculiar growth or crest on the bill waiting in line along the beach, quietly which disappears soon after the breeding move into the water and glide smoothly season, varies greatly both in size and out so as not to frighten the life beneath, shape. Dr. Ridgway says : "Frequently At a suitable distance from the shore they it consists of a single piece, nearly as high form into line in accordance with the sin- as long, its vertical outlines almost par- uosities of the beach, each facing shore- allel, and the upper outline quite regular- ward and awaiting their leader's signal to ly convex, the largest specimen seen be- start- when thls ls £lven> a11 1S commo- ing about three inches high, by as many tion ; the birds, rapidly striking the water in length. More frequently, however, it with their wmSs> throwing it high above is very irregular in shape, usually less ele- them and Plungmg their heads m and out> vated, and not infrequently with ragged fairly make the water foam as they move anterior, or even posterior continuations." in an al™ost unbroken line, filling their At this time the bill is also more or less pouches as they go. When satisfied with orange-red in color. their catch, they wade and waddle into A 11 , • r ,, i , ., r line again upon the beach, where they re- An excellent narrative of the habits of ,. ..... * .. ,, TTTI v T-> 1- • • • 0.1- r\ • main to rest, standing or sitting as suits the White Pelican is given in the Orm- them b ^ th ^aye leisu*el swal. thology of Illinois, where Dr. Ridgway lowed the fishes in their nets th .f un_ quotes the words of Col. N. S. Goss re- disturbedj they generally rise in a flock gardmg those who "have not seen the and circle for a long time high in air » White Pelicans upon their feeding The White pelicans will consume a grounds, but may have read Audu- iarge amount of food ; in fact, they are bon's interesting description of the man- gluttonous. It is said that the remains of ner in which the birds unite and drive the several hundred minnows have been taken fishes into shallow water, where they can frOm the stomach of a single pelican, catch them, which they cannot well do in Usually they are the most active in the deep water, as their skins are honey- pursuit of their prey for a short time after combed with air cells that buoy them up sunrise and also before sunset, like cork, and prevent their diving, and The chief breeding grounds of the they do not plunge for their food when White Pelican are from Minnesota north- upon the wing, like their cousins, the wards to the limit of its range. It nests Brown Pelicans, and therefore have to . also in isolated and greatly separated adopt fishing habits suited to shallow localities to the westward. It is said that waters. I have often noticed the birds in several thousand permanently breed on flocks, in pairs, or alone, swimming on the the islands of the great Salt Lake. There water with partially opened wings, and are reasons for believing that it also head drawn down and back, the bill just breeds in Florida and westward along clearing the water, ready to strike and the Gulf of Mexico as far as Texas, gobble up the prey within their reach; The White Pelican builds its nest on when so fishing, if they ran into a shoal of the ground using small sticks and twigs, minnows, they would stretch out their They usually select a clump of sage or necks, drop their heads upon the water, some other plant that will afford the nest and with open mouths and extended some protection. Frequently sand is pouches, scoop up the tiny fry. Their fa- heaped around the nest to the depth of vorite time for fishing on the seashore is about six inches. The nests are about one during the incoming tide, as with it come foot in diameter. The color of the two to the small fishes to feed upon the insects four eggs is a chalky white and the sur- caught in the rise, and upon the low face is quite rough, due to the irregular form of life in the drift, as it washes shore- thickness of the outer coating. The aver- ward, the larger fishes following in their age size of the eggs is about three and wake, each, from the smallest to the larg- one-half by two and one-third inches. 113 The White Pelican as it calmly floats Was it Shingebis the diver? on the surface of the water, some distance Or the pelican, the Shada ? from the shore, has been mistaken for the Or the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah ? sail of a boat as the moist white feathers Or the white-goose, Waw-be-wawa, glisten in the sunshine. With the water dripping, flashing Longfellow has beautifully woven this From its glossy neck and feathers? fact into the "Song of Hiawatha." It was neither goose nor diver, "O'er the water floating, flying, Neither pelican nor heron Something in the hazy distance, O'er the water floating, flying, Something in the mists of morning, Through the shining mist of morning, Loomed and lifted from the water, But a birch canoe with paddles, Now seemed floating, now seemed flying, Rising, sinking on the water." Coming nearer, nearer, nearer. Seth Mind well. THE SANDPIPER. The glitter of the sunlit river In his flashing, fearless eye, There on his unwearied pinions See the bird go sailing by! Slender, sword-like wings, and dainty, How they cut the thin air now! And without a trace of languor Soars he to the mountain's brow. Back again — for whim has moved him— And where rippling water lies, Scanning all the shore line closely, Light as thistle-down he flies! On the white sand scarce a footprint Makes he, touching here and there; Singing his two notes so gladly, Ah, this bird is passing fair! Sweet content in voice and motion; Following plash of many a wave; Or o'er pine that faces ocean Mounts this rover, gay and brave! —George Bancroft Griffith, 114 A BIT OF BIRD GOSSIP. The sun shone brightly through the green leaves of the trees and crowned each tiny ripple on the lake with a glisten- ing diamond. A Robin Redbreast hopped along the shore, picking up a few pebbles, for the poor thing has to wear her false teeth in her stomach, as it were, having no teeth in her head with which to chew her food. There was a rush of wings above her and she dropped the grain of sand with which she had thought to fill up her giz- zard, cocked her smooth black head on one side and watched the approach of an- other bird. Was it friend or enemy ? It proved to belong to the aristocratic fam- ily of Thrushes— real high-flyers among birds— who alighted on the same sandy shore and advanced "with many a flirt and flutter" to greet her old friend, for they had been neighbors in the same sunny orchard the year before "So glad to meet you again, Mrs. Red- breast/' said the gracious Thrush in a most musical voicl, "but are you not a long way from the willows on the river bank where I last had the pleasure of see- • p»> Oh, we never finished that house among the willows We became dissatis- ™d With,uhe nei^borhood, answered Mrs Redbreast, after performing the grace ul courtesy of a well-bred bird, as are all Robin Redbreasts. "Ah, I was afraid of malaria when we looked the ground over together in the spring. It was too low, almost swampy, Mr. Thrush and I went to a little knoll abi.ut three miles away and built in the loveliest, the most fragrant wild crabap- pie tree you ever saw," and Mrs. Thrush smoothed with shining beak a mottled feather on her handsome breast. "But would not those lovely blossoms tempt those creatures — boys, I think they are called — to climb until they found your home ?" "The thorns stand sentinel and the thick leaves hide it well, and I wanted my children to grow up strong, and swift on the wing. They would never grow up well feathered and beautiful amid those lovely willows on account of the low ground," replied the Thrush. "It was not malaria that caused us to abandon our half-built nest, but boys, some black as crows and some white as doves, kept coming to get materials for whistles. It seems that the very tree we chose had bark that slipped the easiest, and sometimes a flock of three or four would be perched on the limbs (they al ways sit astride, so awkwardly, you know), with jack-knives in their hands, and of course we could not stay. Robin wanted to come to the park— it is a lovely place— where those fine big creatures with bright stars on their £ray coats are Put to take care of us birds- Whv> she went on> "they wil1 not let bovs stone even an English Sparrow, but I think that is al together too particular. There comes a Party of the llttle cockneys now, as a handful of winged brown balls came flut- tering through the air close to the heads of the larger birds who could easily have Put them to. W ^%,W? b ^ ^ However they ducked their heads and scampered into the weeds, leaving the smooth shore to the new-comers, who dipped and splashed in the shallow edge J^ lake as .f th . d it mi htil «Just see the horrid Httle thi wash_ ingJthemselves in water, but they never ca* gei- clean> Why, my Robin, who is a vers venturesome fellow and sometimes follows the bojllevards almost into the heart of the cjt>> Jays that he has seen them in the dirty cjty streets washing themselves in the dust like common barn- yard fowls." "Don't let's look at them," exclaimed Mrs. Thrush. "They are doing it just because it looks respectable, and they know that we wash in water;" and the two bircjs spread their wings and swept disdainfully away from the neighborhood of the Sparrows. "And where did you finally build, Mrs. Redbreast ?" asked the other as they set- tied gracefully on the shore a half a mile away. "Well, Robin, as I said, wanted very much to live in the park. He is so fond of company, but I told him there were too us many children on the grass. Why, they. "I never thought them very well-bred," are as thick as dandelions any fine day, replied Mrs. Thrush, bridling prettily,, and in spite of the care of the great gray for she and her family pride themselves creatures it would be impossible to safely on their correct behavior. "Wonderfully teach our children to fly. We finally pretty, but too loud/' found a lovely suburban place within "Altogether too gay and noisy. Mrs. easy flying distance of the park. An Jay was a great scold, and Blue almost apple tree with perfect branches for a as bad. You could hear them all over the nest grew in the back yard, the cherry neighborhood. Well, they lost all their trees were white with bloom and the children by a Hawk, though Mrs. Jay whole place fragrant with the blossoms fought bravely for her little ones, and of the grape. There was a flat jar always Blue proved himself a real hero. She kept filled with water for the birds, with over-exerted herself, however, and died a stone in it that reached nearly to the shortly after of nervous prostration. I surface on which to stand while bathing, saw a girl, who had found her body,. The water made the birds come in flocks, spreading out her poor dead wings and so that the place was gay with songs, and holding them up against her hat. She really that yard was a little Eden. But finally wrapped Mrs. Jay up in her hand- you know," she went on, dropping her kerchief and carried her away." voice, "there is a story of something ter- "If women would only be satisfied with rible that walked in the garden of Eden, the wings of a bird that had died a nat- and I think it was a black cat, for that ural death we would not complain," said is what walks in our garden. He lies on Mrs. Thrush, as she folded her own pretty the back steps in the sunshine pretending wings a little closer. "Blue Jay married to be asleep, but where his eyes ought to again right away, of course," she went be in that big black ball he calls his head on, as she dropped a little red ant down I can see a narrow yellow stripe, and out among the mill stones of her gizzard to of that stripe of yellow he watches every be ground up. bird that comes." "He did not even wait the conventional "Does he get any birds?" asked the two weeks. If I thought Robin Red- Thrush in an awe-struck whisper. breast would be looking out for another The Redbreast shook her black head housekeeper so soon after my death he sadly. "Every now and then his mis- would not have such a good wife as he tress finds him with feathers in his whis- has to-day. He would have to hunt more kers, and she scolds him. But there is a worms and bugs than he does, instead of serpent in every Eden," she added phil- just bringing home a little bit of dessert osophically ; "if it isn't cats it's boys." in the shape of cherries or grapes to "Did you ever hear what became of the please the children ;" and the mother family of Wrens that lived in the honey- fluffed up her feathers alarmingly, suckle over the back door?" asked Mrs. "That makes me think," said Mrs. Thrush, who cared more for gossip than Thrush, "that I promised the children an moralizing. "They were so pleasant and especially nice supper to-night if they cheery." would not chirp or stick up their heads "Oh, yes. We started south before and look over the edge of the nest. They they left and I haven't seen them since, are really getting so big now that Mr, They were a proud little folk, that made Thrush and I can do nothing with them, believe they were not proud, always wear- Last night when I went home I found ing the finest clothes, yet in such sober my eldest son, Brown Thrush, sitting on colors. I always called them stuck up." the edge of the nest, and he is taller— "Their tails certainly were — he, he, he," Just then a large shadow wavered over giggled Mrs. Thrush. the sunshiny sward, and with a scared ex- "Ha, ha, ha," laughed Mrs. Redbreast, clamation of "Hawk !" the birds flew "That's pretty good. I must tell that to swiftly in different directions, not waiting Robin. But don't you remember," she to see that the object which cast the went on, "the Blue Jays that lived in the shadow was nothing but a harmless paper elm tree down the lane?" kite. S. E. McKee. 116 THE MARBLED MURRELET. (Brachyramphus marmoratus.} This little bird belongs to the family of auks and puffins, the guillemots and the dovekie. It is the sea bird family (Alcidae) for all the species are maritime, spending most of their time on the ocean. Nearly all the species fre quent the Pacific coast of North America. A few are, however, found on the Atlan tic coast. They seem to frequent the wildest and most rocky shores and gen erally congregate in large colonies which may include several species. Their struc ture unfits them for locomotion on the land where they move in an uncouth and awkward manner, but they are agile and quick swimmers and expert divers. It is said that they will remain under water for several minutes, swimming for long dis tances. They use their wings in diving. The Marbled Murrelet inhabits the coast of the Pacific ocean from San Diego, Cal ifornia, northward, breeding only in the northern part of its range. These birds are seldom found at any great distance inland. It is said that their nests, like those of the petrels, are built in holes in banks or in burrows in the ground. They have also been known to lay their eggs in the open crevices of cliffs where but little effort is made to build a nest other than the gathering together of a few sticks and twigs. The ovate eggs are of a buffy color and are marked with varying shades of brown. BEFORE THE STORM. A whir and sweep of snow-white wings, Soft brown-flecked breasts, now here, now there A-sway upon the ragged weeds Or darting through the wintry air. I watch you from the frosted pane Beside the glowing hearth-stone warm, And shudder as I hear the wail Of angry winds before the storm. —Mary Morrison. 119 BOY-CHICKADEE. I doubt if any one was ever haunted by post. We sat waiting for birds to bathe, a more commonplace object than a fence- but waited in vain. They bathed up- post; yet, terminating a fence that bor- stream and they bathed down-stream, ders a little farm, there is a gray old post We saw them drying their feathers, but which has haunted my imagination for they would not bathe by us. A dripping several years. The fence has long ceased Chickadee flew overhead and sat preen- to fence anything in or out ; the upper- ing his feathers in a sweetgum tree. How most rail is the only one left and that is nearly we had come to seeing that bath ! fastened to my post about five inches from (a thing we had never achieved). In de- the top. Just under the lee of that rail is spair we crossed the road and hid behind a round hole which is rather jagged about the sassafras hedge. Presently some- the lower edge as if gnawed by sharp lit- thing strange passed us and there was tie teeth. Every time I travel that road Dame Chickadee with a very queer bur- I am impelled to stop and put a finger den. Imagine yourself with a mouthful into that hole. I always expect to dis- of excelsior larger than your head, and cover a secret, yet never do. Still, the you will have some idea of her comical post haunts me for once Boy-Chickadee appearance. She peered at us from be- kept house there. hind her treasure first with one eye and Boy-Chickadee is one of our smallest then with the other. We were all atten- birds. He wears a dumpy little gray coat tion. A dozen times she darted towards surmounted by a pair of bright black the old fence, but we were too alarming eyes under a velvety black cap. Dear to and she could not make up her mind to the heart of every bird-lover, he is espe- brave us. Each time she retreated to the daily so in winter. It is then that his sweetgum, holding tight to her bundle- crystal pendulum of song swings lightly it might have been a clematis blossom, I to and fro where other bird-song is rare, could not say. It was the first time I It is rather plaintive — two minor notes had ever seen a Chickadee look self-con- swing to the left, then two more to the scious. At the same time we saw that right — and seems to belong only to frosty Boy-Chickadee had dipped in once more mornings. Boy-Chickadee stays to wish and was dripping wet. It was madden- you "A Merry Christmas" and "A Happy ing. At last she made a wide curve to- New Year," and comes daily to dine on wards us and disappeared. I sprang to sunflower seeds stowed in a large gourd the fence-post and discovered the round for him. I should be ashamed to say how hole, and with an ecstatic catch of the many seeds he consumes at a sitting, or breath I put one finger in. A bunch of flitting better describes it. He flits in indignant feathers hurled itself against for a seed, then out to the apple-tree to my hand and out came the finger and out hammer it, uttering gurgles of content came she and whisked away with such all the while. He spends so much time lightning rapidity that we barely saw her. eating them that I eye my store anxious- The hole was too deep and too well shad- ly wondering if it will hold out under owed to tell us anything more than that such onslaughts. Sometimes he brings it had a secret in its keeping and al- a companion and they take turns going though we should have liked to camp by into the gourd. His British enemies tag the post it was not to be. him enviously and hang about the gourd- At our next visit we found Dame Chick- door ; but it is cut too small for them adee setting and Boy Chickadee feeding and they can only gaze in. It is Boy- her; again, and the post had become a Chickadee's cache. nursery. It seemed too ludicrous that In summer time Chickadee deserts us such babes-in-the-woods should ever at- and we must seek him in the fields, and tain to the dignity of fatherhood and that is how we came to find the fence- motherhood ; but this time neither parent 120 was there to be laughed at, and as I tapped at the door a perfectly intelligible "Day- day-day-day" came from the nursery ; the babes had already learned to talk ! It was so l,ong before we visited them again that we expected to find the post deserted. There was no sign of occupancy ana I felt depressed because it was all over. But a gentle tap brought a tiny, angular cranium and a careworn baby face to the door. It didn't seem possible that Boy Chickadee could have such a homely bairn ! We withdrew in haste when he threatened to come out ; but we had summoned him and the moment had come to seek his fortune. The young ster stepped into the door and set sail straight across the wide roadway. When we caught a rear view of the tiny sailboat our gravity was undone, for not a vestige of tail adorned it and he was the most un finished fledgling we had ever seen. This was the last sign of life the old fence-post yielded, but I canot learn to believe it final. I am constantly expect ing to see more Chickadees set sail, and its possibilities still haunt me. Elizabeth Nunemacher. THE STORY BIRD The parrot has been called the "bird- man" on. account of its intelligence ; but so many anecdotes are told of it that it might well be styled the Story-bird. Of the four hundred and thirty differ ent species known, America claims one hundred and twenty-six. Europe is the only large country that does not possess native tribes of parrots. The parrot is the monkey of the feath ered world, because of his imitative pow ers. He also uses one of his feet as a hand to carry what he eats to his beak. A parrot possessed of remarkable lin guistic powers, being able to speak in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and English, was accustomed whenever a visitor was at all boisterous to imitate his laugh and then groan in anguish, ex claiming in tones of commiseration, "Poor, poor Polly!" A cardinal is said to have paid a hun dred crowns for a parrot that could re cite without a blunder the Apostles' creed and chant the Magnificat correctly. An attempt was once made to reform a bad parrot which kept saying, in refer ence to his mistress, "I wish the old lady would die." The curate sent over his own bird, that had been religiously trained,, hoping its influence would have a good' effect on the bad bird. But whenever the latter said, "I wish the old lady would die," the clergyman's bird rolled up its eyes and exclaimed, "We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord." Belle P. Drury. 121 THE BEAR. Though the Bear is classed with the Carnivora, or flesh-eating animals, it is really omnivorous in the best acceptance of that word, for it will thrive on a vegeta ble diet for many weeks at a time. Bears will devour the various kinds of berries, grains, the succulent leaves of herbs and the fleshy roots, with evident relish. There is, perhaps, no more dainty morsel for them than the young and tender buds of trees and shrubs as they are prepared by Nature, wrapped in their winter cover ing and containing an abundant food, stored there for the nourishment of the growth of the coming season — a food use ful to the animal as well as the plant. The young seem to depend entirely on vege table food, but as they grow older, though still preferring the products of the plant, they will eat a variety of animal forms, such as insects, mollusks, crustaceans, worms, birds and their eggs. When driven by hunger they will kill and eat larger prey, such as deer and domestic cattle. They will also devour the dead bodies of animals freshly killed, but only before there is any taint or odor. Thus, though Bears have the structural charac teristics of the flesh-eating animals, this classification is misleading to the untu tored observer who watches them in our menageries or even in their native homes. The Polar Bears are perhaps the most carnivorous of them all, living almost en tirely on animal food, when in their nat ural homes. The Grizzly Bear is also a flesh-eating species, though it will sub sist on a vegetable diet. It is an interest ing fact that the nature of their food seems to determine the degree of strength and the ferocity that they possess. The in fluence of the diet is shown not only on the various species but also upon the in dividuals of the same species. The Bears fed only upon vegetable foods exhibit a much milder disposition and are less re sentful when crossed. Bears are distributed throughout the world except in Australia. In the words of Brehm, "They inhabit the warmest*as well as the coldest of countries, high mountains as well as the coasts of the Arctic Sea. Nearly all species select dense, extensive forests or rocky regions, generally lonely spots. Some delight in watery or damp siutations, streams, rivers, lakes, swamps and the sea, while others prefer stretches of dry land. One species is confined to the sea-coast and seldom penetrates the depths of the continent, but still undertakes more extensive migra tions than the others, traversing great dis tances on drift ice, crossing the northern Arctic Ocean and migrating from one continent to the other." Besides the bears of the present day there are extinct forms, remains of which occur in the later geologic ages. The Great Cave Bear, remains of which have been found in the caves of Central Europe, indicate that this species was even larger than our Polar Bear, which may measure nine feet in length. The opinion is prevalent that the move ments of the Bear are awkward and slow and that they are neither fleet nor active in locomotion. This is true, to a certain extent, in the case of the larger species, though they are endowed with great en durance. On the other hand the smaller species are notably quick and active in their motions. In fact all species when excited will pass over the ground at a rapid rate, their strides resembling a sort of gallop. All climb, especially when young or until their great weight pre vents them from doing so. A few of the species are excellent swim mers and can remain under water for some time. The Polar Bear well illus trates this characteristic, for it has been seen many miles from the shore, swim ming easily and showing a wonderful power of endurance. We are told that "some species are sen sible and sagacious and may be trained 12 to a certain extent ; but they exhibit no high mental development. Some indi viduals become very tame, though they display no particular affection for their master and keeper. They always revert to their grosser animal instincts in old age, for then they become wicked, in tractable and violent. The Bears signify their various moods by modulations of their remarkable voices, rinding utterance in dull growling, snorting and murmur ing, or grunting, whistling and sometimes barking sounds/' A family of young Bears consists of from one to six, which are fed and pro tected in the most tender manner by their watchful and careful mother. Born naked and blind, it is usually five or six weeks before they can see and have a season able coat of hair. After this, they are full of life and very playful, and their antics are very amusing. Bears may be classed under three groups; the Sea Bears, the Land Bears and the Honey Bears. The Polar or White Bear is the only representative of the first class. This species has been wonderfully provided for by Nature. Living as it does in the re gions of perpetual ice and snow, the pure white color of its fur becomes a protec tion, as it is less easily observed. It also, unlike the other species, has the soles of its feet covered with hair which enables it to move more freely and safely on the ice. They have been noted at a distance of fully fifty miles from the nearest shore, swimming without effort and showing no fatigue. One*of the best known of the Land Bears is the Brown Bear of Northern Europe and Asia. It varies greatly and some authorities divide it into several dis tinct species. It is easily tamed and be cause of the ease with which it supports itself on its hind feet it is often taught to step to the sound of music. Here also is classed the Grizzly Bear, which is near ly as large as the Polar Bear and much more ferocious. It has been known to attack the bison and carry a body weigh ing one thousand pounds or more to its den some distance away. The Black Bear of our illustration is also a member of this class. It is a native of the wooded parts of North America. This species is timid though agile, strong and is of great endurance. Its fur is soft and even and shining black in color. It can run more swiftly than can a man and will escape in this manner if possible. Though it principally feeds on herbs, fruits and grains, it will also devour live stock of the smaller kinds and may even attack cattle. In captivity they are much better natured than the other species. "They never make hostile use of their strength in their relations with their keepers, but completely acknowledge hu man supremacy and present no difficul ties in their training. At any rate, they fear their keeper more than he does them." The third class is illustrated by a sin gle species, the Sloth, or Honey Bear, also called the Aswal. It is a native of India and frequents hilly localities. It feeds upon fruits, honey and the lower animals, such as ants and the grubs of various insects. It also enjoys the comb and honey of bees. With its large and scythe-shaped claws it will destroy the strongly built homes of the white ants. In its native country the Sloth is trained by jugglers to perform many tricks and in captivity it is docile and comparatively good-natured. 125 BIRD INCIDENTS. Wrens versus Sparrows : Some time the chimney, standing guard, and at the since in the early spring, a pair of Eng- same time giving vent to his feelings in lish Sparrows made up their minds to loud and spirited song. Of course, our take possession of a bird house in our gar- sympathies were with the victors, den which a pair of Wrens had occupied Cat Bird and Cherry Stone : During for two previous years. one of my many rambles through .the Mr. and Mrs. Wren had not yet arrived, woods, I discovered the nest of a Cat so there was none to dispute the spar- Bird in a thick clump of briars and upon rows' right or suspend operations. All drawing near found it contained four lit- went well and the nest was nearing com- tie ones. Retreating for a short distance, pletion, when one bright sunny morning, I stopped and watched the mother bird the former occupants arrived on the who was greatly excited at first, but see- scene and trouble at once began. They ing that I meant no harm to her little evidently resented the action of the spar- family, she proceeded with household rows in taking the house which they an- matters. ticipated using for a summer residence. After giving the young ones two or An indictment of evacuation was at once three worms and other choice morsels, served and being met by a show of spar- she brought a good-size red cherry and row impudence, forcible expulsion was offered it to one of the nestlings. The next in order. little bird could not swallow it, so what Mr. Wren took up his position on the did the mother do but take the cherry front porch of the little house, and by a out of its mouth, remove the stone with series of savage attacks and much loud her beak and feet, and then give it back scolding, succeeded in keeping the pair to the nestling in a crushed state. This of sparrows off, while Mrs. Wren, work- time it disappeared in a trice. The in- ing with desperate determination, pro- cident impressed me as being not only ceeded to tear the nest apart and carrying amusing but an excellent illustration of the materials out the little back door, "bird sense." scattered them in all directions. My! Chippies Dividing Crumbs: While what a shower of hay, straw, feathers, sitting under a shade tree in the yard, I sticks, etc. This was continued until the observed a pair of Chippies eating two house was entirely cleared. Then, with- crumbs of bread. One crumb was much out delay, began the process of recon- larger than the other, and of couise the struction. During this time the spar- bird having the smaller one finished first, rows did not sit idly by and see their Then what ! Simply this, the other Chip- work destroyed, but there was a continu- py at once broke his crumb in half and ous battle between them, and when the proceeded to place a portion of it within action became too pressing, both Wrens reach of his mate. In this way each had would make a grand charge which invari- nearly an equal amount. Beautiful in- ably resulted in driving the enemy back, cident ; well might man take this lesson By and by the new nest was finished, and home to himself ; What an exhibition of although bad feeling existed for several l°ve and generosity; what a different days afterward, with frequent passages world this would be if people acted more at arms, the sparrows finally gave up the on the principle of these innocent little fight as hopeless, and Mr. Wren mounted birds ! Berton Mercer. 126 SEA-MEWS IN WINTER TIME. I walked beside a dark gray sea, And said, "O world, how cold thou art! Thou poor white world, I pity thee, For joy and warmth from thee depart. "Yon rising wave licks off the snow, Winds on the crag each other chase, In little powdery whirls they blow The misty fragments down its face. "The sea is cold, and dark its rim, Winter sits cowering on the world, And I, besides this watery brim, Am also lonely, also cold." I spoke, and drew toward a rock, Where many mews made twittering sweet; Their wings upreared, the clustering flock Did pat the sea-grass with their feet. A rock but half submerged, the sea Ran up and washed it while they fed; Their fond and foolish ecstasy A wondering in my fancy bred. Joy companied with every cry, Joy in their food, in that keen wind, That heaving sea, that shaded sky, And in themselves, and in their kind. The phantoms of the deep at play! What idless graced the twittering things; Luxurious paddlings in the spray, And delicate lifting up of wings. Then all at once a flight, and fast The lovely crowd flew out to sea; If mine own life had been recast, Earth had not looked more changed to me. "Where is the cold? Yon clouded skies Have only dropped their curtains low To shade the old mother when she lies, Sleeping a little, 'neath the snow. "The cold is not in crag, nor scar, Not in the snows that lap the lea, Not in yon wings that beat afar, Delighting, on the crested sea; "No, nor in yon exultant wind That shakes the oak and bends the pine. Look near, look in, and thou shalt find No sense of cold, fond fool, but thine!" With that I felt the gloom depart, And thoughts within me did unfold, Whose sunshine warmed me to the heart: I walked in joy, and was not cold. -Jean Ingelow. 127 SNAILS OF POND, RIVER AND BROOK. Many of my readers have doubtless radula and the operation of eating is not kept an aquarium at some time in their unlike the motions of a cat lapping milk, life and have stocked it with several gold- They are such voracious eaters that the fish, a small turtle and some fresh water dirtiest aquarium will be cleansed by snails. They have also, without doubt, them in a very short time. It is interest- stood in front of the aquarium and ing to note that the young animals watched the strange antics of each of the breathe air through the water for a long three kinds of animals and have won- time, and finally acquire the normal char- dered at the swiftness with which the little acteristic of the family of breathing the snails progressed about the glass sides of air directly. While submerged, the man- the artificial pond. It is of these mol- tie chamber containing the "lung" is luscan denizens of fresh water that I shall tightly closed so that no water can pos- write in this article. sibly get in. It is thought by some that In the fresh-water species the shell is the species of Limnaea living at great not often rounded like that of the land depths retain the early habit of allowing snails, but is more frequently long and the water to fill the mantle cavity and so pointed, the spire resembling a church breathe oxygen through the water and steeple. The animal, too, differs very are not, therefore, compelled to come to greatly, the tentacles being either flat and the surface for air. triangular or long and very tapering. The Limnaea lives under many varying eyes are not placed at the end of the eye- conditions, being found in the arctic re- peduncles, as in the land shells, but are gions of Greenland and Iceland as well as generally situated on little swellings at in the tropics, in thermal springs and the base of the tentacles. They may be those containing mineral matter, as sul- found in almost any body of water, ad- phur, as well as in brackish and fresh hering to stones, sticks, and other sub- water. They have been found at a height merged objects, or crawling over the of over fourteen thousand feet in Thibet sandy or muddy bottom. and at a depth of eight hundred feet in Our fresh-water snails may be divided Lake Geneva, Switzerland. During into two classes ; first, those which times of drought when the streams are breathe by means of a lung and which dried up and the surface of the mud is must come to the surface at regular in- sun-cracked, the species of this family tervals to take in a supply of air, and, sec- bury themselves deeply in the mud and ond, those which breathe by means of cover the aperture with an epiphragm, in plume-like gills which take the oxygen much the same manner as the land shells, directly from the water. This fact accounts for the apparent disap- One of the most common and best pearance of all life from a pond when it known of the first class is the Limnaeidae, dries up, and its sudden and seemingly comprising the pond snails. These ani- unaccountable reappearance when the mals have generally a long, graceful shell, pond is again filled with water, horn-colored for the most part, but some- A genus of pond snails closely allied times greenish without and reddish with- to Limnaea, but having discoidal or in the aperture. The animal has a broad, spiral shells, is Flanorbis, the flat-orb flat foot, an auriculate or eared head, and shells. Instead of dragging their shells flat, triangular tentacles. The habits of after them, as in the last genus, they carry these animals are very interesting. They them perfectly perpendicular, or perhaps will wander about the sides of an aquar- tilted a little to one side. The animals ium, eating the growths of green scum are very rapid in movement, more so than which have collected. At this time the Limnaea, which are rather sluggish, mouth may be seen to open, exposing the They delight in gliding rapidly about, 128 their long, filiform tentacles waving about a long rostrum, or proboscis, and not in like a whip in the hands of an impatient the lower plane of the head, as in the first driver. class. Among the most common of this The Limnaeas of which we have been class are the river snails, known as Stre- speaking have mostly dextral or right- pomatids. There are about three hun- handed shells, that is, have the aperture dred species in this family, and with two on the right side when you hold the shell or three exceptions they are confined en- in the position pictured on our plate. In tirely to the United States in geograph- the family Physidae the shell is left- ical distribution. The shells are more or hand or sinistral. The members of this less graceful, having long, turreted spires / family have shining, horn-colored shells, and small apertures. The color of the more or less fusiform. The tentacles are shells is generally a uniform greenish or long and filiform and are constantly mov- yellowish, although some species have ing about as in the allied genus Planorbis. color bands, and the aperture is frequent- The animal is very active and moves ly tinged with purple; or reddish, about with a steady, gliding motion. It The animal is ver^ interesting in cap- is very interesting to watch a number of tivity. It is not very bold and will lie on Physae in an aquarium ; as they are the bottom of an aquarium with its head crawling along the bottom, one will be and foot half protruding from its shell, and seen to rise suddenly to the top of the its rostrum and tentacles slowly moving water and move along with the foot ap- about. Frequently it may be seen mov- plied to the surface, the shell hanging ing along with its head and rostrum bent down. Again, they may be seen descend- down and moving about like a hound on ing, suspended by a thin thread of mucus, the scent, When the animal rises suddenly, the A family closely allied to the last is the branchial cavity which contains the lung Melaniidae, the animals of which inhabit is heard to open with a faint, clicking the entire world, except North America, sound, which is probably due to the pres- They may be distinguished from the last sure of air in the lung being suddenly lib- family by the presence of little finger-like erated. Several of the species of Physa digitations on the edge of the mantle, inhabit water as cold as the freezing point The shells are generally larger and more and they may be frequently seen in win- highly colored than those of the last fam- ter gliding over the bottom of a stream ily, many of them being of a dark choco- or pond when the surface is frozen. The late color and some are of a beautiful little glairy, transparent masses of jelly- glossy black ; some shells are smooth, like matter which are seen attached to while others are ornamented by knobs stones and the under side of sticks, are and spines. The genus Melania, a .he eggs of Physa or Limnaea. species of which is illustrated on the plate Not all of the fresh-water pulmonates accompanying this article, is the most have spiral shells. A whole family, the characteristic form. Ancylidae, have a conical shell formed The largest and handsomest of the like a rounded shield, and resembling the fresh-water snails belong to the two fam- limpets, hence called the river limpets, ilies Viviparidae and Ampullariidae, the They are generally quite small and live shells of the latter family frequently at- attached to the interior of dead river taining a length of three inches. The ani- shells and to submerged plants and to mals of the first family prefer a sandy rocks. They are very interesting, but beach in a large lake or river, while those hard to find on account of their small of the second generally live in more or size and inconspicuous habitat. less muddy rivers, ponds and creeks. A The second class of mollusks or those single genus of Viviparidae (Campelona) that breathe air through the water, have is confined solely to the United States, a respiratory cavity instead of a lung, east of the Rocky Mountains. Their in which is placed a series of leaflets, ar- shells are generally of a rich grass green ranged like the teeth of a comb in two and in certain localities they may be col- series of lines, forming the so-called gills, lected by the thousands. Unlike many of The mouth, also, is placed at the end of the snails of which we have been writing, 131 this family is viviparous, that is, brings is thought that at some remote period in forth its young alive, instead of laying geological history this lake formed a part eggs, as in the family Limnaeidae. This of the ocean and that in the course of character has given the family its name, time it was cut off from the sea, grad- which is certainly well chosen. When ually became fresh and was finally raised born the shell is about one-sixteenth of to its present elevation. The reason for an inch in length and is perfectly trans- such a theory is the presence in the lake parent. The animal is very active and of certain molluscan organisms whose eats voraciously of any vegetation within shells closely resemble those of the salt reach. Another handsome shell belong- water family, Littorinidae (Periwinkles), ing to this group is the Vivipara contec- The fact that certain species of the family toides, which is about an inch in length inhabit brackish water and are even sub- and is encircled by several color bands, ject to the influence of fresh water, adds It is a common shell in many of our additional weight to this theory. The ponds. shell of this species (Limnotrochus Somewhat larger and handsomer than thomasi) also resembles certain of the the Viviparas are the Ampullarias, or ap- top-shells (Trochus), which are marine in pie-shells (also called idol-shells' and habitat. Most of the other species in- pond snails). These animals live mostly habiting this lake are like the fresh water in tropical and subtropical regions and Viviparas in form. are noted for the tenacity with which they The animal of Ampullaria depressa is retain their hold on life. So tenacious of very curious and interesting when studied life are they that instances are known of alive. The foot is very wide, almost their living for several years away from square in some positions ; the head is the water, in this respect resembling some narrow, separated from the body by a of the land snails. It is also recorded that neck and the region of the mouth is pro- hollow pieces of logwood from Honduras duced into two long, cylindrical, tapering, have frequently contained specimens of tentacular processes, which are probably this family alive after a journey of thou- tactile organs like the elongated lips of sands of miles. They may be said to be Glandina, described in the last article. On truly amphibious. the top of the head are placed the two The writer has collected in Florida the whip-like tentacles, which are longer than large Ampullaria depressa in considerable the length of the whole animal and are numbers. It was noted particularly that always waving about when the animal is this species furnished the principal food in motion. Just back of the tentacles the of the Everglade Kite, a bird inhabiting eyes are placed at the end of two short, the southern part of Florida. Large rounded prominences or peduncles, quantities of these shells were found From the left edge of the aperture extends about the nesting places of these the long, hollow, cylindrical siphon birds, from which the animal had been formed by two extensions of the mantle, neatly extracted without damaging the On the upper side of the posterior end of shell in the least. The bird is, curiously the foot is placed the horny, concentric enough, provided with a curved bill which operculum or door. When the animal easily fits into the aperture of the mollusk withdraws into its shell the head first dis- and extracts the animal with little dif- appears with its appendages and the ficulty, and the feet and claws are so con- siphon, and the foot is doubled up in the structed that the shell may be firmly held middle, the operculum shutting in last during the operation. This shell is fig- and closing the interior against all ene- ured on the plate. mies. In Central Africa there is a lake, Tan- All of the different groups of the mol- ganyika, having a length of four hundred lusca have their giants and their pigmies miles and a width of from ten to fifty and the fresh-water mollusks are no ex- miles, and at an elevation of twenty-seven ception to the rule. We have thus far hundred feet above sea level, which has studied the animals of normal size and one of the most interesting and peculiar the giants. Let us now turn our attention fresh-water molluscan faunas known. It to some of the pigmies among the fresh- 132 water snails. One of the commonest of these small mollusks is the Bythinia ten- taculata, the shell of which does not ex ceed half an inch in length, and is formed in a graceful, tapering turret. This spe cies, like many other European animals, has been introduced into this country and bids fair to eclipse many of the native species in the number of individuals. It probably first came over with some mer chandise, which was shipped west by the way of the Erie canal. The snail, once established in the canal, has had every opportunity to spread over the entire United States. The canal is emptied every year and cleaned and the water, with its organisms, is allowed to flow into the little streams and the larger rivers and thence into Lake Ontario. From this lake this species has spread so that it is also found in Lakes Erie and Michigan, and will eventually spread over the entire northern portion of the United States. This is but one of the many examples of different species being carried by human agencies from one part of the world to another. But there are many species of these smaller fresh-water snails that are pig mies, indeed, whose tiny shells do not exceed an eight of an inch in length and which require the aid of a microscope to adequately study their delicate organ isms. These minute animals live on water plants and on any submerged object. They vary from long, pointed, steeple- like shells to those which are perfectly rounded like a miniature apple. In our own country these little creatures may be found in any of our ponds or streams, and the lively little animals are well worth a closer acquaintance. They are known scientifically under the difficult names of Paludinella, Amnicola, Somatogyrus, Fluminicola, with many others, and do not bear any specific English titles. Much more might be written concern ing the habits and variations of the fresh water snails. The best way to become acquainted with these interesting ani mals is to collect them alive and study their various modes of life in an aqua rium. This receptacle need not be an elaborate or expensive affair. A fish globe six or eight inches in diameter makes an admirable aquarium and even a quart Mason fruit jar has been success fully used by the writer. The bottom should be covered to a depth of an inch or more with clean, fine sand and several stones should be introduced for the snails to "roost" upon. If the aquarium is large enough a few water plants like water cress might be introduced to assist in purify ing the water. The best Mollusks for this purpose are the Limnaea, the Planorbis, the Physa, the Vivipara and some of the "pigmies" just mentioned. Much can be learned concerning the habits of our common snails if a record is kept of everything the animal does, such as its mode of eating, what it will eat and the increase in size from day to day of the little snails after they are hatched from the egg. If these creatures could be considered by the ma jority of people as living, breathing ani mals, performing many of the functions carried on by our own bodies they would be regarded with more favor and hence aquaria would become more numerous and they would also be studied more in telligently. The writer has been frequent ly amused (and sometimes pained) by the careless question of some otherwise in telligent person, when he has been ex hibiting the shell of some interesting mollusk, "Well, really, now, was that thing ever alive?" It is to be earnestly hoped that this series of articles will reach many of this class of people and lead them to a better understanding of these lowly creatures. Frank Collins Baker. 133 THE ORANGE. (Citrus aurantium.) The tree which produces the well- exception of the southeastern portion, known Orange of commerce is closely climatic conditions would not have per- related to the lemon, the citron and the mitted the growth of the Orange, lime, and with them belongs to the genus De Candolle, an eminent botanist and Citrus. one the truthfulness of whose investiga- By some it is supposed that Linnaeus tions cannot be questioned, held that the selected this name, deriving it from a original home of the Orange was the corruption of the Greek word meaning Burmese peninsula and southern China, cedar-tree, because, like the cedar, it is an Throughout both China and Japan this evergreen. By others it is* held that the fruit has been cultivated from very an- name was chosen in honor of the city of dent times. Citron in Judea. In ordinary language Though not found by the Romans in the name citron is applied to another spe- India it was later cultivated there and cies of the genus, the fruit of which is ob- without doubt it was carried from there long, about six inches in length and with by the Arabs to southwestern Asia pre- a thick rind. vious to the ninth century and from there Many consider that the name Orange into Africa and to some of the European is a direct corruption of the Latin word islands. The Arabian physicians were aureum, meaning golden; but our best familiar with the medicinal virtues of the authorities on the derivation of words Orange and have spoken of it in their believe that the name, though a corrup- writings. It was probably afterwards in- tion, reached its present form in the fol- troduced into Spain and possibly to other lowing manner : "The Sanskrit designa- portions of southern Europe by the same tion nagrungo, becoming narungle in agency as it seemed to follow the spread Hindustani, and corrupted by the Arabs of Mohammedan conquest and civiliza- into naranj (Spanish naranja), passed by tion. Thus in the twelfth century we find easy transitions into the Italian arancia that the bitter Orange was a commonly (Latinized aurantium), the Roman aran- cultivated tree in all the Levant coun- gi, and the later Provincial Orange." tries. There is no reference to the sweet In regard to the original home of the Orange in the literature of this time and Orange there is a great diversity of opin- it must have been introduced at a later ion, yet there is little doubt that it was in period. It was certainly cultivated in some portion of southern Asia. Both Italy as early as the sixteenth century, the Orange and the lemon were unknown In more recent years the cultivation of to the Roman's, hence they must have the various varieties has spread through- been indigenous in a country not visited out the world wherever the climate and by this people. The region traversed the conditions of the soil will permit the by them was great and they even pene- ripening of the fruit, trated India. They were a people who Risso, in his valuable history of the were inclined to please the palate and Orange family, enumerates one hundred would surely have used the Orange and and sixty-nine varieties with distinct taken it home with them if discovered and characteristics. Of these he classes for- would doubtless have recorded the find- ty-three under the Citrus aurantium. ing of so important a fruit. These facts Besides the sweet and bitter varieties tend to prove that the Orange was not the more common ones are the Mandarin then cultivated in India unless in the re- Orange of China, a flat and spheroidal moter parts. Other portions of Asia were fruit the rind of which easily separates unknown to the Romans but, with the from the pulp; the Tangerine, which is 134 very fragrant and originally derived from the Mandarin, and the Maltese or Blood Orange, commonly grown in southern Italy and notable for its deep red pulp. There are many other varieties that bear geographical or local names. Few forms of plant life present to the beholder more beautiful characteristics than an Orange tree in full bearing. Such a tree, in addition to the unripe and ripe yellow fruit has also numerous white flowers, which give off their wonderful perfume, and its symmetrically arranged branches are covered with rich dark green leaves. It is a tree that appeals not alone to the sense of taste but to the esthetic nature as well. THE MUSICAL SWAN. (Cygnus mustcus.) "What moonlit glades, what seas, Foam-edged, have I not known! Through ages hath not flown Mine ancient song with gathered music sweet— By fanes overthrown, By cities known of old, and classic woods, And, strangely sad, in deep-leaved northern solitudes?" • If those living Avian gems aglow probable that the popular and poetical no- amid the trees that form Earth's emerald tion of the singing of the swan was de- diadem, are the jewels of Nature's crown, rived from the doctrine of the transmi- then is the great white swan afloat upon gration of souls; yet the traveler Paus- the ripples of her glistening lakes and anius, who spake as one having author- seas, a shimmering pearl amid the chas- ity, affirmed the swan to be "the glory ing of her silver breastplate. of music," at the same time preserving Yet it was not the beautiful Mute the following testimony to the repute of Swan, most beautiful, most stately, and the swan as a bird of prophecy : "In the most silent of all created beings, that night before Plato was to become the typified to the men of old the reincarna- pupil of Sokrates, the latter in a dream tion of the poet's soul ; neither the saw a swan take refuge in his bosom. Trumpeter, with its loud clarion, but the Now the swan has a reputation for music, more slender Singing Swan of song and because a man who loved music very story, that "thro' its deathless music sent much, Kuknos, the king of the Ligyes a dying moan." It was to this swan beyond the Eridanus, is said to have ruled alone that the ancients could attribute the the land of the Kelts. People relate con- power of melody — the singular faculty of cerning him that, through the will of tuning its dying dirge from among the Apollo, he was changed after his death reedy marshes of its final retreat, where into a swan." From this evidence Paus- "in a low, plaintive and stridulous voice, anius thus subtracts the weight of his in the moment of death, it murmured private opinion : "I am willing to believe forth its last prophetic sigh ;" and it was that a man who. loved music may have this swan, too, that inspired the philoso- ruled over the Ligyes, but that a human pher Pythagoras to teach that the souls being was turned into a bird is a thing of poets passed at death into swans and impossible for me to believe." retained the powers of harmony they had Mr. Rennie cites, also : "In his Phae- possessed in their human forms. dro, Plato makes Socrates thus expresses M. Antoine thinks that it is not im- hfhiself: 'When swans perceive ap- 137 preaching death, they sing more merrily in old age, when about to die, they do not than before because of the joy they have forget their songs, though they are more in going to the God they serve ; but men, feeble than in youth, because they can- through fear of death, reproach the not so well erect their necks and expand swans, saying that they lament their their wings. * * * death and sing their grief in sorrowful "They are invited to sing by Favonius, tones/ After digressing to assert that no and as their limbs become sluggish and bird sings when either hungry or sorrow- their members deficient in strength when ful, he resumes, 'Far less do the swans death approaches, they withdraw to some sing out of grief, which, by reason of their place where no bird can hear them sing, belonging to Apollo, are diviners, and and no other swans, impelled by the same sing more joyfully on the day of their cause, may interrupt their requiem." death than ever before, as foreseeing the While on the one hand Julius Scaliger good that awaits them in the other vituperates Cardan for "lauding the non- world.' " sense of the poets, and the mendacity of Charles de Kay wrote : "Not the mag- the Greeks about the singing of the nificence merely, but the element of su- swan," Aldrovand cites on their behalf perstitious reverence accounts for the fre- the testimony of one Frederico Pendasio, quency of the swan as a crest and charge a celebrated professor of philosophy and of coats of arms," stating that in heraldry a person worthy of credit, who told him the swan runs back through heraldic de- that he had frequently heard swans sing- vices to totemism, and that among the ing melodiously while he was sailing on "oath-birds" which wizards of Lapland the Mantuan Lake ; also that one George called upon in their incantations, the Braun had heard the swans near London swan often figured. "sing festal songs." It is also asserted that German local Besides this, Mr. Rennie says, Olius legends retain the idea of the swan as an Wormius professed that many of his uncanny bird, prophetic of death or the friends and scholars had heard them sing- under world, and that the Klagesee, or ing, and proceeded to give the experi- Lake of Complaining, near Liban, was ence of one John Rostorph, a student in so named from the numbers of musical divinity, and a Norwegian by nation, swans that congregated there. "This man did, upon his credit, and with Pliny says, "Some affirm that swans the interposition of an oath, solemnly af- sing lamentably a little before death, but firm, that once in the territory of Dron- untruly, I suppose, for experience of ten, as he was standing on the seashore many has shown the contrary." But early in the morning, he heard an unusual Aristotle says, "'Swans are wont to sing, and sweet murmur, composed of the most particularly when about to die, and mar- pleasant whistlings and sounds ; he knew iners in African seas have observed many not at first whence they came, or how of them singing with a mournful voice, they were made, for he saw no man near and expiring with 'the notes of their dy- to produce them ; but looking round ing hymn." about him, and climbing to the top of a Cicero affirmed that Lucius Crassus certain promontory, he there espied an spoke with the divine voice of a swan infinite number of swans gathered to- about to die ; while Homer makes no al- gether in a bay, and making the most de lusion to their singing, but mentions their lightful harmony — a sweeter in all his "flying round the springs of Cayster, life-time he had never heard." clanging on sounding pinions." Oppian To this testimony Goldsmith appends asserts, "They sing at dawn before the his personal opinion in the following rising of the day as if to be heard more words : "Thus it appears that our mod- clearly through the still air. They also ern authorities in favour of the singing of sing on the sea-beach, unless prevented swans are rather suspicious, since they by the sounds of storms and boisterous are reduced to this Mr. George Braun weather, which would not permit them to anjl John Rostorph, the native of a coun- enjoy the music of their own songs. Even try remarkable for ignorance and credul- 138 ity." Goldsmith's own belief was that every note that constituted melody, and the ancients had some mythological have often been sorry that it did not fore- meaning in ascribing melody to the swan, bode their death." "and as for the moderns, they scarcely de- Aldrovand, referring to the structure serve our regard. The swan must, there- of the organs of voice as countenancing fore, be content with that share of fame the poetical creed of the singing swan, that it possesses on the score of its beau- says, "For when we observe the great ty, since the melody of its voice, without variety of modulations which can be pro- better testimony, will scarcely be admitted duced from a military trumpet, and, going by even the credulous." upon the axiom that Nature does nothing This better testimony is furnished by in vain, compare the form of such a trum Charles de Kay, who says that modern pet with the more ingenious mechanism bird-lovers have heard the swans of Rus- of a swan's windpipe, we cannot but con- sia singing their own dirge in the North, elude that this instrument is at least capa- when, having lingered too long before mi- ble of producing the sounds which have gration, reduced in strength by lack of been described by the ancient authors." food, and frozen fast to the ice where they In distinguishing between the Whis- have rested over night, they clang their tling and Tame or Mute Swans, Bingley lives out, even as the ancients said. describes this strange form of windpipe, Inasmuch as we have record of the "Which falls into the chest, then turns Singing, or Whistling Swan from Egypt back like a trumpet, and afterwards makes to Alaska and the Aleutian Isles, with a second bend to join the lungs. The testimony of modern scientists as well as curve being inside the neck of the ancient poets in proof of the vocality of Whistler or Hooper, instead of being an this, the largest of singing birds, the external adornment, as in the case of the question becomes one of quality of song graceful Mute, in whom rather than of the actuality of the song 'Behold! Tlie mantling spirit of reserve itself. M. Montbeillard's opinion of the Fashion® his neck into a goodly curve, whistler's vocal exertions is thus ex- An arch thrown back between luxuriant pressed: "The bursts of its voice form wings a sort of modulated song, yet the shrill Of whitest garniture, like fir-tree boughs, and scarcely diversified notes of -its loud To wnicn' on *>m« unruffled morning, clings clarion sounds differ widely from the ten- A d™kv wei^nt of ****** *>urest snows~ der melody, the sweet, brilliant variety of while with the Musical Swan the gift of our birds of song." And M. Morin even voice is balanced by a corresponding de composed a memoir, entitled "Why traction from personal appearance; for swans that sang so well in ancient times the straight neck and smaller stature im- now sing so badly." It is probable that part, we are told (alas !), a certain goose- the ancients, with due consideration for like suggestion." the difference in size between the swan This aesthetic obstacle is, however, suc- and all other songsters, may have also cessfully surmounted by the fact that their given consideration in the same ratio to songs are uttered mostly at night, when the theory of the enchantment that dis- flying far overhead in the darkness ; but tance lends ; and it is more than probable there is no help for the statement of Al- that all of this confusion of testimony re- bertus Magnus, which must needs be suited from confusion of species ; for, as taken for better or for worse, that "When Charles de Kay explains, observations of swans fight, they hiss and emit a sort of the Mute Swan caused people to assign bombilation, not unlike the braying of an the song of the dying swan to the most ass, but not so much prolonged." fabulous of fables ; while Hearne, who ob- The Abbe Arnaud, whose observations served the Trumpeter, makes the follow- were said to be very minute, completes the ing vigorous statement: "I have heard list of odious comparisons as follows: them in serene evenings, after sunset, "One can hardly say that the swans ^of make a noise not very unlike that of a Chantilly sing; they cry, but their cries French horn, but entirely divested of are truly and constantly modulated ; their 139 voice is not sweet ; on the contrary, it is shrill, piercing, and rather disagreeable. I could compare it to nothing better than the sound of a clarionet winded by a per son unacquainted with the instrument." Proceeding then to depict the manner of their dual concerts, he continues : "The swan, with his wings expanded, his neck stretched and his head erect, comes to place himself opposite to his mate, and utters a cry to which she replies by an other which is lower by half a tone. The voice of the male passes from A to B flat ; that the female from G sharp to A. The first note is short and transient, and has the effect which our musicians call sensi ble, so that it is not detached from the second, but seems to slip into it. This dialogue is subjected to a constant and regular rhythm, with the measure of two times. Observe that, fortunately for the ear, they do not both sing at once !" Nuttall is likewise arrayed with the witnesses for quantity rather than quality of sound. Of the dying song, he says, "These doleful strains were heard at the dawn of day or when the winds and waves were still, and, like the syrinx of Pan, were in all probability nothing more than the murmurs and sighs of the wind through the marshes and forests graced and frequented by these elegant aquatic birds." Speaking of the natives of Ice land comparing their notes, "very flat teringly," to those of a violin, he sug gests that "allowance be made for this predilection, when it is remembered that they hear this cheerful clarion at the close of a long and gloomy winter, and when, at the return of the swan, they listen to the harbinger of approaching summer; every note must be, therefore, melodious, which presages the speedy thaw and re turn of life and verdure to that gelid coast." He adds that it emits its notes only when flying or calling on its com panions—the sound being very loud and shrill, but by no means disagreeable when heard high in the air and modulated by the winds." Of the "Peaceful Monarch of the Lake," Thomas Bewick wrote: "Much has been said, in ancient times, of the singing of the Swan, and many beautiful and poetical descriptions have been given of its dying song. 'No fiction of natural history, no fable of antiquity, was ever more celebrated^ oftener repeated, or bet ter received ; it occupied the soft and lively imagination of the Greeks ; poets, orators, and even philosophers, adopted it as a truth too pleasing to be doubted.' 'The dull, insipid truth/ however, is very different from such amiable and affecting fables, for the voice of the swan, singly, is shrill, piercing and harsh, not unlike the sound of a clarionet when blown by a novice in music. It is, however, asserted by those who have heard the united and varied voices of a numerous assemblage of them, that they produce a more har monious effect, particularly when soft ened by the murmur of the waters." To Cassell the voice of the swan "is low, soft and musical, and when heard from multitudes congregated together has a very pleasing effect." Shakespeare re peatedly alludes to the music of the swan with manifest confidence in its melody; Pallas, the ornithologist, likens their notes to silver bells; and Olaffson says that in the long Polar night it is delight ful to hear a flock passing overhead, the mixture of sounds resembling trumpets and violins. So now, though we no longer know that the soul of the poet returns to float, the embodiment of rhythmic grace, be fore our mortal eyes as in the years so long gone by, there yet remains to us the splendid imagery of that stately form in spotless plumage against the setting of the darkening sea, the wonder of that sol emn requiem, and the prophecy and the mystery of the shadowy orchestra pass ing onward in the depths of the midnight sky. Juliette A. Owen. 140 FROM KCEHLER'8 MEDICINAL-PFLANZEN. 400 BLACK PEPPER. CHICAGO: A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHE PEPPER. (Piper nigrutn L<.) The pepperer formed an important member of the community in England during the Middle Ages, when a large proportion of food consumed was salted meat, and pepper was in high request as a seasoner.— S. Do well, Taxes in England, IV. 35. The plants yielding the black and white ing the rainy season or during the dry pepper of the market are climbing or season in February cuttings are planted trailing shrubs. The stem attains a length about a foot from the trees which are to of from 15 to 25 feet. The climbing por- serve as support. The plants are ma- tions cling to the support (usually large nured and frequently watered during the trees) by means of aerial roots similar to dry season. They begin to yield about the ivy. The leaves are entire, simple, al- the fourth or fifth year and continue to ternate, without stipules. The flowers yield for eight or nine years. The meth- are very insignificant in appearance, ses- ods of cultivation differ somewhat in dif- sile upon a long, slender, pendulous ferent countries. The harvest begins as spadix. They are mostly unisexual, either soon as one or two berries of the base of monoecious or dioecious, that is the stam- the spike begin to turn red, which is be- inate (male) flowers and pistillate (female) fore the fruit is mature. Two crops are flowers are separate, either upon different collected each year, the principal one in branches of the same plant (monoecious) December and January, the second in or upon different plants (dioecious). The July and August. The spikes are col- fruit is berry-like, with a thin, fleshy lected in bags or baskets and dried in the pericarp enclosing a single seed. The sun on mats or on the ground. Ripe young fruit is grass-green, then changes berries lose in pungency and also fall off to red and finally to yellowish when ripe, and are lost. In southern India the flowers mature in Pepper is of extreme antiquity. It re- May and June and the seeds ripen five or ceived mention in the epic poems of the six months later. ancient Hindoos. Theophrasttis differ- Piper nigrum is a native of southern entiated between round and long pepper, India, growing abundantly along the the latter undoubtedly P. longum. Dios- Malabar coast. It thrives best in rich coridcs/ and Plinius mention long, white soil in the shade of trees to which it clings, and black pepper and dwell upon the me lt also grows in Ceylon, Singapore, dicinal virtues of spices. Tribute has been Penang, Borneo, Luzon, Java, Sumatra levied in pepper. In 408, Alaric the dar- and the Philippines. It is cultivated in all ing ruler of the barbaric Visigoths, com- of the countries named, especially in pelled the conquered and greatly humili- southwestern India. Attempts at its cul- ated Romans to pay as part of the ran- tivation have been made in the West In- som 3,000 pounds of pepper. During the dies. Dark and Middle Ages pepper was a very In India the natives simplify the culti- costly article, as is evidenced by the fact vation of pepper by tying the wild-grow- that it was frequently found among royal ing vines to a height of six feet to neigh- presents. The pepper-corn rents, which boring trees and clearing away the under- prevailed during the Middle Ages, con- wood, leaving just enough trees to pro- sisted in supplying a certain quantity of vide shade. The roots are covered with pepper at stated times, usually one pound heaps of leaves and the shoots are each month. The high price of pepper trimmed or clipped twice a year. In lo- was the prime motive to induce the Portu- calities where the pepper does not grow guese to seek a sea-route to India, the wild, well drained but not very dry soil land of pepper. The route via the Cape not liable to inundations is selected. Dur- of Good Hope led to a considerable re- 143 duction in price. About this time, also, began the extensive cultivation of pepper in the Malay peninsula. The black pepper is the unripe, dried fruit of the pepper plant. The white pep per consists of the ripened fruits from which the pulpy pericarp has been re moved. It is not nearly as pungent as the black pepper, but it has a more deli cate aroma. Occasionally the dried black pepper is "decorticated" by blowing, thus giving the "corns" a smooth appearance resembling the white pepper. This is a very absurd proceeding, as by this process the most spicy portions are removed. The quality of the pepper is almost propor tionate to the weight of the corns; the lighter the poorer the quality. After the fruits are dried they should be carefully winnowed to remove light grains and all refuse. Very frequently these winnow- ings are ground and placed on the mar ket. Adulteration of pepper is quite com mon, especially when ground. A wise plan is never to purchase ground spices. Buy them whole and grind them at home or have them ground before, your eyes. Good whole peppers should sink in water and should not crumble between the rin gers. There are several commercial varieties of pepper, as Malabar, Penang, Batavia, etc., differing considerable in quality. The pungent taste of pepper is due to a resin and the odor is due to an ethereal oil. Besides these there is present an al kaloid known as piperin. The chief use of pepper is that of a spice, added principally to meats, but also to other food substances. Its use is, how ever, less now than it was during the lat ter part of the Middle Ages. So extensive was the dealing in pepper that the English grocers of the time were known as pep- perers. It was very liberally used with all meats, especially chopped or sausage meats. It was used as snuff or added to snuff tobacco to increase its effectiveness. It is still highly prized as an aid to diges tion. Applied externally it is used as a counterirritant in skin diseases. Italian physicians recommend it highly in ma larial diseases. Description of Plate — A, flowering twig; i, portion of spike; 2, ovary with stamens; 3, stamens; 4, young fruit; 5, 6, portions of spike (colors are wrong, 5 should be red and 6 should be green) ; 7, 8, fruit. Albert Schneider. MARCH. March, thou bully grim and gruff, Ever grumbling, hoarse, and rough! Always howling at the door Of the rich man or the poor; Screaming words that do not reach — Words unlike our human speech. Down the hollow chimney-bore, Hark the raging tyrant's roar! Beat not with thy sleety flail, Or the keen lash of thy hail, Infant Spring, that tender child, Frightened when thou even smiled. Cruel March, Sir! — Walter Thornbury. 144 BIRDS ftND NATURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. IX. APRIL, 1901. No. 4 APRIL. No days such honored days as these! While yet Fair Aphrodite reigned, men seeking wide For some fair thing which should forever bide On earth, her beauteous memory to set In fitting frame that no age could forget, Her name in lovely April's name did hide, And leave it there, eternally allied To all the fairest flowers Spring did beget. And when fair Aphrodite passed from earth, Her shrines forgotten and her feasts of mirth, A holier symbol still in seal and sign, Sweet April took, of kingdom most divine, When Christ ascended, in the time of birth Of spring anemones, in Palestine. —Helen Hunt Jackson, I come, like a hope to a gloomy breast, With comforting smiles, and tears Of sympathy for the earth's unrest; And news that the summer nears, For the feet of the young year every day Patter and patter and patter away. I thrill the world with a strange delight; The birds sing out with a will, And the herb-lorn lea is swift bedight With cowslip and daffodil; While the rain for an hour or two every day Patters and patters and patters away. — Bernard Malcolm Ramsay, in the Pall Mall Magazine. 145 THE CURASSOW. An- interesting race of birds, known as the ground, while roosting and building the Curassows, has its range throughout their nests on the branches of trees." The that part of South America, east of the nests are large and made of twigs and Andes1 Mountain range and north of willowy branches held in place by the Paraguay. All the species are confined stems of grasses, which are neatly inter- to this region except one, which is found woven between them. The nest is lined in Central America and Mexico. This is with down, feathers and leaves, the bird of our illustration (Crax globi- It is said that they are easily domesti- cera). cated and that in some parts of South The Curassows belong to the order of America they may be found in tame Gallinaceous birds and bear the same re- flocks around the homes of the planters, lation to South America that the pheas- One authority states that at about the be- ants and grouse bear to the Old ginning of the present century a large World. They are in every respect the number of Curassows were taken from most important and the most perfect Dutch Guiana to Holland, where they be- game birds of the district which they in- came thoroughly domesticated, breeding habit. In all there are twelve species as readily as any other kind of domestic placed under four genera. As the hind poultry. Though a tropical bird, it would toes of the feet are placed on a level with seem that they might be acclimatized, the others they resemble the pigeon and They would certainly form a valuable ad- are unlike many of the other gallinaceous dition to the list of our farm fowls, for birds. their flesh is said to be "exceedingly white The Curassows are very large and and delicate." rather heavy birds and some of them are The female is not as large as the male larger than our turkey. They have short and is usually reddish in color. Their wings and a strong bill. At the base of food consists almost entirely of fruit and the upper mandible and on the upper side insects. there is a large tubercle-like excrescence About the middle of the eighteenth cen- which is of a yellow color and quite hard, tury Eleazar Albin wrote "A Natural Upon the head there is a gracefully History of Birds," in which he gives a arched crest of feathers which is made of very interesting account of the Curassow curled feathers, the tips of which are and an excellent illustration of the bird, white in some of the species. This crest He says : "I took a pourtray of this bird can be lowered or raised at the will of the at Chelmsford in- Essex ; it was very tame bird. The plumage of the species illus- and sociable, eating and drinking with trated is a beautiful and velvety black, ex- any company. The Cock I had of a man cept the white on the lower portion of the from the West Indies. They are gen- body. It is said that their motions are erally brought from Carasow, from much more graceful than are those of our whence they take their Name. They are common domestic turkey. "They live in called by the Indians Tecuecholi, Mouii- small flocks, and are arboreal in their tain-Bird or American Pheasant." habits, only occasionally descending to 146 )M COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES. CRESTED CURASSOW. (Crax globicera.) COPVRICHT 1901, BY >. W. MUMFORO, CHICAGO. SOME NOTABLE NESTS. The Clymer boys and girls, of Clover- doing are known to use manufactured dale, New England, belonged to a Bird materials and patterns." Strange state- Club ; they were proposed to membership ment, but of course thereby hangs a tale, by their neighbors, the Walkers; in fa.ct, and here it is. the two families composed the club, and At the spring house-cleaning time, it partook of the nature of a secret so- Mrs. Clymer had the big, bright sitting- ciety. room carpet taken out under one of the All this was before the young people old colonial elms, at the east of the house, of Cloverdale knew of Clark University, to be cleaned. Mrs. Baltimore Oriole and Dr. Hodges' "Ten to One Clubs," was up in the elm that morning looking wherein the members pledged themselves . for a building spot that should be a bit to strive by all imaginable means — pro- superior to the old one; she had spent vided they were also practical — to induce three summers in that tree, was familiar ten song birds to live and sing each year, with the ways of the club, and habits of where only one was found the year be- the family; like the birds of Eugene fore. Field's boyhood, "she knew her business It was not necessary for the Cloverdale when she built the old fire-hang-bird's Club to put up carefully constructed and nest." artistic bird houses, or to hang cotton No one was near when Mrs. Oriole and the like fine nest-building materials fixed her eyes on the great red, green in choicest ornamental shade trees — not and white ingrain carpet, and admired it; at all. The English Sparrow had not found what she thought we know not, but when the village in those days; the song birds she glanced at the hitching post under were there, they knew all the good loca- the tree, she instantly descended from tions and just where to find the best stuffs high, waving branch, to lowly square for constructing, furnishing and decorat- post, for exactly covering the top of the ing their homes ; the work of the club same was a miniature carpet, a piece just was to find these homes, to study them, six by six inches 'which Patrick should with the ways and habits of their occu- have left indoors ; not having done so, he pants, and to record their discoveries in laid it on the inviting post for safe-keep- a big book labeled, "Things- Not Gener- ing. That bit of wool fabric was very ally Known." valuable, it exactly filled a jog right by Many of the statements in this book the fireplace, in which, alas ! ever after were as broad and conclusive as scien- was seen an ugly piece of oil cloth ! tific dogmas, but the Cloverdale Club did All summer long the club girls and not waste its time searching for hundreds boys gazed with wonder at the gay nest of instances to establish a single truth ; in the elm, hanging like a solitary bios- one was enough to be worthy of record ; som among the leaves ; their speculations then, if some time the big book should be about it would fill a long chapter ; but given to the public, and some naturalist after the birds were flown far to the south, or investigator should choose to confirm and the leaves were gone, that nest was its statements by patient research, of finally cut down and told its story : thread course he would be welcome so to do. by thread, just as pulled from the bit of The club had the distinction of discov- carpet, had been woven into a decoration ery, that was enough. for the outer wall of that hanging house, One interesting item recorded was till a rude reproduction of the original this : "Birds — such as Orioles — who tiny rug was under the feet of the bird- build in conspicuous places, like to dec- lings, and over the heads of the boys, orate the outside of their nests, and in so The club held a special exhibition of 149 that nest, and at Thanksgiving time one one hundred years ; and, third, when the of the home-coming guests, who was an young are big enough to fly, they know enthusiastic kindergartener in the city, how, and just go up without any practic- persuaded those generous nature stu- ing." All this can be proved to any one dents to let her take their treasure to the who will go in nesting time to a cliff over- poor children who seldom saw the com- hanging the river just below Cloverdale, monest kind of a hang-bird's nest, and and who will accept the testimony of in that kindergarten it may be seen to- some of the most reliable and respectable day. , nien who have honored that place in the Another entry in the club book was past century. this: "Birds building on the ground, es- ^You must go in a boat and hug the pecially Vesper Sparrows, locate if pos- shore; of course you need a member of sible where they have a fine outlook, and the club for guide ; at an unexpected mo- give great attention to the arrangement ment you are told to look over your head, of the front yard." and there, glued to a shelf of rock so This was discovered when Emily Cly- small as to be entirely covered by the mer took her small brother Jo up in the same, is the nest! No porch, or even "side hill pasture" to see the finest moun- doorstep, beyond its wall — an overhang- tain view in all the county, and to find ing roof of rock above, a shoreless ex- wild strawberries ; while picking the ber- panse of water below ; now, if some one ries they found what was afterward called can keep the boat steady, and you have the juniper house ; this was a Vesper the nerve to stand at the highest point of Sparrow's home, roofed by green grow- the bow, then by reaching over your head ing juniper. you can gently touch some fuzzy bits of Everybody knows that the prophet Eli- life in the nest. Now you know the first jah could never have sat and wept under and last of the facts recorded are correct : a New England juniper tree; no tree is there is the nest on the inaccessible cliff; less high or more nearly horizontal than there are the birds, and if they did not fly this ; in fact, we call it a bush — where it up and out into the world the first time is big — this one was not larger than Em- they stood on the edge of the nest, would ily Clymer's two hands, and growing they not be in the dark water below, in- straight out from descending ground, it stead of coming back to the old home for formed a flat, green roof to the Sparrow a hundred years? homestead; then, while my lady sat upon The evidence of successive occupation her nest, she looked out of her tiny front for a century is this : The present family door, across a gently sloping lawn, upon of Walkers — father and children — have a whole range of mountains. But most watched that nest, never finding it empty remarkable of all were the ornamental a summer for twenty years. Old Deacon shade trees, for just ten inches from the Walker, grandfather of our club mem- door, on either side, waved two big bers — who, of course, initiated their lath- brakes, symmetrical in size and shape ; er — proved that Phoebes had hatched in they gracefully arched across the en- the cliff nest during eighty years pre- trance, and were to the Sparrow domicile vious, in this wise : After he had stood as the giant elms to the big Clymer home- guard forty years, as the deacon loved to stead. A sketch of this beautiful resi- relate, didn't his Uncle Israel — who had dence was made by a member of the club been spending just those two-score years — for cameras were not common in Go- in the South — come home one spring verdale then — the picture cannot be evening, and the very next morning that taken from the club book, but I think we ancient worthy demanded a boat and a can see it all with our mind's eye. boy to take him under the old Phoebe's Here is one of the most astounding nest on the ledge, which he affirmed had statements in that book of many obser- never been without tenants during the vations : "Some Phoebes are like the forty years before he left Cloverdale ? Golden Eagle in three ways — first, they So there are the figures and facts show- build on rocky and inaccessible cliffs, ing how not only the nest, but bird love second, they build in the same place for and bird lore had come down through the 150 century, and with such an inheritance, no mers, are still adding to their bird book wonder the Walkers are on the best of things not generally known, terms with feathered folk, or that they, Elizabeth Reed Brownell. with their confidential friends, the Cly- THE BLACKBIRD'S SONG. The bee is asleep in the heart of the rose, The lark's nestled soft in the cloud, The swallow lies snug close under the eaves— But the blackbird's fluting is loud; He pipes as no hermit would or should, Half a mile deep in the heart of the wood, In the green dark heart of the wood. The raven's asleep in the thick of the oak, His head close under his wing; The lark's come down to his home on the earth — But the blackbird still will sing, Making the heart of the dark wood thrill With the notes that come from his golden bill, That flow from his golden bill. -Walter Thornbury. 151 A GOLDEN EAGLE. In January, 1900, I had given me a I catch him In any such attempt, but Golden Eagle. He had been picked up in sometimes at night I would hear him, and a stunned condition in the foot-hills, hav- every morning his wings, beak and feath- ing received a shock from the electric ers showed he never gave up the hope of wires, on which he had probably alighted getting free. for a moment or struck in his flight. I never fed him to the full ext-T- There is an electric power-house in the capacity, but gave him from a pound to Sierras opposite Fresno, from which pole a pound and a half of meat daily at noon, lines carry the strong current down to be which he devoured in a very short time, used for power and light in the valley, sticking his claws through the toughest and this was by no means the first record beef and tearing it like ribbons with his of eagles and other large bird's being beak. It was wonderful to see how clean stunned or killed by them. he could pick a bone with his clumsy- The person who found him had looking great beak. I never knew him to brought him down with the idea of hav- touch any kind of food but raw meat, ing him stuffed, but as he showed a good When anything was handed in to him, no deal of life, I begged to keep him alive, matter how high up, he never accepted it and he was handed over to me. He was in his bill, but struck at it with a light- evidently a young bird of the previous ning-like movement of his claws, scarce- season, though nearly full grown. From ly ever missing it. tip to tip of his wings he wras over five One day he snapped in two one of the feet, and his wonderful black talons meas- bars across his cage, pried off another ured one and' one-half to two inches be- and got out. I was telephoned that my yond the feathers: His legs were hand- eagle was out, and hurried home to find somely feathered dowa to the claws, and all the children in the neighborhood his proud head, with its strong beak, blockaded indoors. The eagle was large, piercing eyes, and red and yellow- perched on the grape-arbor easily survey- brown feathers, was a thing of beauty, ing the lay of things. A cat had crawled The rest of his body was dark, almost into the wood-pile and under the door- black, with the exception of three or four steps the venerable cock of the yard was white diamonds showing on the upper congratulating himself on his safety, but tail feathers. feeling rather undignified. I procured a I kept him in a big box open on one rope and took my first lessons in lasso- side. When I first brought him home ing. The eagle had been so closely con- and had put him into the box, a neigh- fined that he had not been able to gain the bor's poodle came sniffing around for the full use of his wings, and so could only meat I had brought for the eagle. He run or flutter a few feet from the ground, was on the back side of the box, and so I finally recaptured him and brought him could not see that there was anything in back. He showed no fear and offered lit- it, nor did he hear anything, but all at tie resistance. once the scent of the bird must have About the middle of March the weather struck his nostrils, for with a squall of became very hot, and it was really fear he disappeared from the yard and cruel to keep the bird penned up in such never afterward would venture near the close quarters in such weather, so I took cage. him out to the plains and set him free. During the time I kept the eagle, He could not use his wings much, and it some two months, he never showed any is very doubtful if he escaped the shot- desire to attack me, though his claws gun or rifle of some predatory small boy, would have gone through my hand like a but it was the best I could do for him. knife, nor did he display any fear of me. He was a beautiful specimen of a bird, He never made any attempt to get out and I only wish I could have kept him. while anyone was in sight of him, nor did Charles Elmer Jenney. 152 ' ic Libr; THE HARLEQUIN DUCK. ( Histrionicus h is trion icus) The Harlequin Duck is the sole repre sentative of the genus to which it be longs. The generic and the specific names (Histrionicus), which unfortu nately the strict rules of scientific naming require in the case of this bird to be the same, are from the Latin word meaning harlequin. This word, meaning a buf foon, is especially appropriate, for the arrangement of the colors on its head, neck and back give the bird a peculiar appearance, especially during the mating season. At this time, too, the drollery of their actions is very noticeable. Harlequin is not the only name by which this bird is known. In the New England States and northward along the Atlantic coast it is frequently called the ''Lord and Lady," because of the white crescents and spots of its plumage and the proud bearing of the male. It is also called the Rock Duck, the Mountain Duck and the Squealer. Its range covers the northern portion of North America, Europe and Asia. "It is not common wherever found. In many parts of the Old World it is only a rare or occasional visitor; this is the case in Great Britain, France and- Germany." In the United States, during the winter, it passes southward into Illinois, Missouri and California. It breeds only in the northern part of its range. It is a mountain duck and "frequents swiftly running streams, where it de lights to sport among the eddies below water falls or in the brawling rapids." It is not only an adept in the art of swim ming and diving, but it also flies swiftly and to a great height. During the win ter it frequents northern sea coasts and exhibits the characteristics of other sea ducks, and is occasionally found far out at sea. It is known that the Harlequin will lead a solitary life, and it is some times observed in pairs or even alone on streams of remote and unfrequented lo calities. The sexes vary greatly. While the male, which is the sex of the bird of our illustration, is brightly colored, the fe male is much more somber. The young resemble the adult female. The food of the Harlequin consists al most entirely of the parts of aquatic plants and the smaller crustaceans and mollusks. The food is obtained by div ing, frequently through several feet of water. Mr. Chapman tells us that the sea ducks in diving to obtain food, will "sometimes descend one hundred and fifty feet or more." Its nest, though usually placed on the ground, is sometimes built in the hollow of a tree or a hollow stump, though al ways near a body of water. The nest is usually a simple structure made of the stems of water plants, twigs and gras>s thickly lined with the downy feathers from the breast of the duck. The eggs are occasionally laid on the grass, and no effort is made to build a nest. The fe male thoroughly covers the eggs when she leaves the nest. The number of eggs varies from six to eight, though ten have been recorded. They are of a "yellowish buff or green ish yellow" color. This duck is considered an excellent food and is much sought for by the na tives of those regions which it frequents. 155 AN ORCHARD BIRD-WAY. " A rodless Walton of the brooks, • A bloodless sportsman I; I hunt for the thoughts that throng the woods, The dreams that haunt the sky." — Samuel Walter Foss. ' An isolated orchard certainly comes among the inhabitants, if no great alarm, very near being an inner sanctuary of Fluttering hastily to a convenient tree bird life. For some reason or other, the top goes a dainty red-eyed vireo, who gnarled old trees and matted June grass seems to me to have more of a grey than touch either the practical or artistic olive gleam to his shining back. As he sense of bird nature very closely, and ap- alights upon the topmost bough — peal strongly to many a bird heart, for ,,A bird,g bright gleam ^ me he therein do congregate all sorts and con- A bird,g glance> fearless, yet discreet," ditions of feathered life. Probably it is an exceptional feeding-ground, for the but to show that he is in no way seriously curled and misshapen leaves testify to alarmed he flings down to us some sweet the abundance of the hairy caterpillar and notes of liquid song. It is Wilson Flagg, leaf-worm supply, which proves such de- I believe, that has dubbed him the lectable tidbit to the bird palate. When Preacher, but to me he seems more cor- I see the birds feasting upon these unsa- rectly termed the Lover, for I can but in- vory looking morsels, I can but wonder terpret his accentuated notes into "Sweet at the unregenerate farmer who so loudly Spirit, Sweet — Sweet — Spirit," a contin- decries the bird as a fruit-destroyer, when uous cry, as it were, of loving eulogy to a few hours' observation will teach him the devoted little wife who is so carefully that to one cherry stolen there are a hidden in her pocket nest in a distant hundred tree destroyers gobbled up, and thorn tree. But all of this time we under- a thousand weed seeds devoured. It is stand his clever machinations, as he care- Wilson Flagg who so curtly says : fully leads us in an opposite direction by "The fact, not yet understood in Amer- his song allurements. He flits from tree ica, that the birds which are the most mis- to tree with a naive turn and flutter, keep- chievous as consumers of fruit are the ing upon us all the time, an eye alert and most useful as destroyers of insects, is keen, until he deems us at a safe distance well known by all the farmers of Europe ; enough to be left to our own clumsy de- and while we destroy the birds to save the vice, when, with a quick turn, he wheels fruit, and sometimes cut down the fruit backward to the starting-point, and we trees to starve the birds, the Europeans hear a triumphant praise call to the be- more wisely plant them for their suste- loved "Sweet Spirit." Near a corner of nance and accommodation." the old orchard where there are great Our orchard is surrounded by a fence bunches of Elder and Sumach, we hear of weather-stained chestnut rails, whose vehemently stitching, a busy little Mary- punctured surface has been the scene of land yellow throat, doing up his summer many a worm tragedy resulting in the song work with an energetic "Stitch-a- survival of the fittest. We enter through wiggle, Stitch-a-wiggle, Stitch-a-wiggle, a pair of lichen-covered bars, grey-tinted stitch 'em," the "stitch 'em" brought out and sobered by age. How far less pictur- with such emphatic force that it seems esque is our field and hedgerow when in-' the last satisfactory utterance of a work closed by that inhuman human invention, accomplished. His pert vivacity has been a barbed-wire fence, and trim swing gate, most delightfully illustrated by Ernest To be neat and up to date, is never to be Seton-Thompson, in Frank Chapman's picturesque, and seldom to be artistic. "Bird Life," and I am sure the snap-shot But our quiet entrance into the orchard caught him on his last accentuated "stitch has caused something of a disturbance 'em." Dr. Abbot tells us that these busy 156 little people usually build their nests in varying his song to "Erie-lake-Erie/7 the skunk cabbage plants, indicating that with every other breath. As a child I they must have an abnormal odor sense, used to wonder who taught him the name but perhaps they allow their sense of safe- of the great lake on whose borders he ty to overcome their sense of smell. How- makes his summer home. But to other ever, this pair of yellow-throats have people, other interpretations, for to built instead, among some thickly matted Neltje Blanchan he says "Spring-o'-the- Elders, just above the ground. year, spring-o'-the-year," and to Frank Another fact that favors our orchard Chapman his song is a bar of high, trill- in bird minds, is its close proximity to a ing notes. Sing on, you wary warblerr thickly foliaged ravine which affords such for we have not time to search out your delightful security to feathered people, carefully hidden nest among the timothy It is also a charming background for grasses of the distant meadow, for we our sunny orchard, filled in below, as it know that it would be like looking for the is, with tall, ghostly stalks of black co- pearl in the oyster, so carefully is it con- hosh gleaming white in the shadows-, cealed among the dried grasses, but which Near by, upon a bit of high ground, snakes and field mice depredate so effec- quivers a group of prim American as- tually. In the distant valley we hear the pens, the pale green of their bark gleam- soft echo of the Italian liquids of the ing against the dark shadows of a hem- wood thrush's "A-o-le-le, a-oa-o-le." Shy lock hedge. As we look at them, not a little songster, who so sweetly trills to leaf is in motion, when all of a sudden one us long after his feathered kind have little leaf begins to gesticulate frantically, tucked their busy little bills away in soft throwing itself about with violent wild- wings. Across the orchard comes' the ro- ness, then another leaf catches the enithu- mantic "Coo-coo-coo-coo," sometimes siasm of the soft summer air, then an- interpreted into "I-thou-thou-thou," of other, and another until all of the trees the purple plumaged mourning dove, are a mass of gesticulating, seething little starting out on a high minor and softly serrated atoms, for all the world like a falling to a low contralto. There are no congregation of human beings, vociferat- more delightful representatives of roman*- ing, demonstrating, or contradicting tic bird love, than these birds illustrate, some poor little human leaf that has dared More frequently than in any other species to be moved by some passing thought in you see the devoted pair going about to- advance of his fellow kind. Darting gether, on the telegraph wire, on the tree through the quivering foliage comes a top, on the wing, always together, undu- gleam of fire, which resolves itself into a lating their graceful necks with marked scarlet tanager who calls to us, "look- devotion. Many a bird lover has criti- see," demanding our attention to his cised Mr. Dove for his remarkable fond- bright beauty, remembering possibly that ness for a lady who is a so decidedly slack his brilliant coloring is but a thing of housekeeper, and who is satisfied with so short duration, for too soon will come shiftless a nest in which to deposit the winter and plain clothes. Perched upon two white eggs, for the few carelessly a fence rail, but somewhat out of place thrown together sticks can prove any- in this shady corner, sits a blatant thing but a bed of down to the tender bird meadow lark, about whose golden breast babies. However, perhaps these roman- is hung a gleaming neck chain and locket tic birds consider that "love is enough" of shining black feathers, of which, from as they follow Le Gallienne's refrain of: the pert poise of his head, we deem him justly proud, and he is at least a con- " The bird of life is singing- on the bough, spi<™ spot of color against the green His two^eraal not- of • I -*gj£^ of the hillside. He eyes us impertinently through as he inconsistently but musically calls to And would we hear it, we must hear it us, "You-can't-see-me, You-can't-see- now." me," in the face of the most contradictory Alberta A. Field, evidence of his own conspicuousness, 157 THE CANADA GROUSE. (Dendragapus canadensis) The Canada Grouse, also called the Bendire states that he has good reason- Spruce Partridge, frequents the ever- for believing that the mating may last for green forests and swamps and the more than one season, as he has frequent- shrubby areas of British America east of ly found a pair, in the depth of winter, the Rocky Mountains, and in Alaska it is when no other individuals of the same a resident of the Pacific coast. In its species were near. The nest, consisting southern flights it seldom passes beyond of loosely arranged blades of grass and a the latitude of the northern portion of few stalks and twigs, is built by the hen New England and Minnesota. on a slight elevation of ground, usually This bird is an interesting member of under the low branches of a spruce tree, the bird family Tetraonidae, which also The number of eggs varies greatly, includes the birds variously called bob- Mr. Ridgway says that they vary in num- white, quail and partridge, the ptarmi- ber from nine to sixteen. The eggs also gans and the prairie hen. The family in- vary greatly in color from a pale, creamy eludes about two hundred species, about buff through various shades to brownish one-half of which belong to the Old buff, and are irregularly* spotted with a World. There are twenty-five distinct deeper brown, though occasionally they species of the subfamily of grouse. These are spotless. are practically confined to the higher lati- During the spring and summer months tudes of the northern hemisphere and the food of the Canada Grouse consists are strictly speaking non-migratory. In very largely of the berries of plants be- fact, nearly all the birds of this family are longing to the Heath family, such as the resident throughout the year in the locali- blueberry, the huckleberry and the bear- ties where they are found. berry, as well as the tender buds of the They are terrestrial in their habits, and spruce. In the winter it feeds almost en- when frightened they usually depend on tirely on these buds, and the needle-like hiding in places where their dull colors leaves of the spruce, the fir or the tarn- will least attract attention, but they will, arack trees. At times they seem to show occasionally, fly into trees when flushed, a preference for certain trees, and will The Canada Grouse, like all the related nearly strip the foliage from them, species, is a bird of rapid flight. The As a food for man their flesh is far feathers of their small wings are stiff, from satisfactory. It is dark-colored and causing a whirring sound during flight, strongly flavored with the odor of their The male during the mating season gives natural food. However, certain Indian a great deal of attention to his appear- tribes are said to relish them and hunt ance. He is quite black in general color them extensively. and more or less barred with white un- Mr. Bishop, in "Forest and Stream," derneath and above with gray or reddish .relates the following very interesting ac- brown. The female is not quite as large count of the strutting of the male Canada as the male, and is not as dark in color. Grouse while in captivity. He says, "I Above the eye of the male there is a small will describe as nearly as I can his con- area of bare skin, which is a bright ver- duct and attitude while strutting : The milion color. tail stands almost erect, the wings are These gentle and retiring birds mate slightly raised from the body and a little in the early spring and remain together drooped, the head is still well up, and the through the breeding season. Captain feathers of breast and throat are raised 158 and standing out in regular rows, which press the feathers of the nape and hind neck well back, forming a smooth kind of cape on the back of the neck. This smooth cape contrasts beautifully with the ruffled black and white feathers of the throat and fore breast. The red comb over each eye is enlarged until the two nearly meet over the top of the head. This comb the bird is able to enlarge or reduce at will, and while he is strutting the expanded tail is moved from side to side. The two center feathers do not move, but each side expands and con tracts alternately with each step the bird walks. The movement of the tail pro duces a peculiar rustling, like that of silk. This attitude gives him a very dignified and even conceited air. He tries to at tract attention in every possible way, by flying from the ground up on a perch, and back to the ground, making all the noise he can in so doing. Then he will thump some hard substance with his bill. I have had him fly up on my shoulder and thump my collar. At this season he is very bold, and will scarcely keep enough out of the way to avoid being stepped on. He will sometimes sit with his breast almost touching the earth, his feathers erect as in strutting, and making peculiar nod ding and circular motions of the head from side to side ; he will remain in this position two or three minutes at a time. He. is a most beautiful bird, and shows by his actions that he is perfectly aware of the fact." There seems to be a diversity of opin ion regarding the method followed by this grouse to produce the drumming sound. Mr. Everett Smith, as quoted by Captain Bendire, says, "The Canada Grouse performs its drumming upon the trunk of a standing tree of rather small size, preferably one that is inclined from the perpendicular, and in the following manner : Commencing near the base of the tree selected, the bird flutters upward with somewhat slow progress, but rapid ly beating wings, which produce the drumming sound. Having thus ascend ed fifteen or twenty feet it glides quietly on the wing to the ground and repeats the maneuver." Ac cording to this and other authorities a tree, usually spruce, having a diameter of about six inches and inclining at an angle of about fifteen degrees, is selected. Frequently these trees are used so exten sively and for so long a time that the bark on the upper side will be much worn. Other authorities, and among them Indians, who live in the regions fre quented by this grouse, claim that the drumming is produced while flying from the branches of a tree to the ground, re peating the operation several times in succession. Another authority describes the drumming of the male as follows, "'After strutting back and forth for a few minutes, the male flew straight up, as high as the surrounding trees, about fourteen feet; here he remained station ary an instant, and while on suspended wing did the drumming with the wings, resembling distant thunder, meanwhile dropping down slowly to the spot from where he started, to repeat the same thing over and over again." The Canada Grouse is easily domesti cated and would make an interesting and amiable bird pet, because of their pecu liar habits. Seth Mindwell. 161 DO PLANTS HAVE INSTINCT. Instinct has been defined as a sponte- leaf drops off, a substantial layer of cork neous impulse, especially in the lower is made to close up the pores through animals — that moves them, without rea- which the sap had so freely flowed during soning, toward actions that are essential the growing season, to their existence, preservation and de- My older readers know, of course, that velopment. Instinct, imbedded in their the green color of the leaf is due to the organic structure, is the guide of animal numerous corpuscles of chlorophyll life as reason is the guide of rational life, which fill the cells. This same chloro- Instinct is said to be incapable of devel- phyll has an important mission to fulfill, opment and progress. These little green bodies are the only real It is instinct that guides the wild goose food-making machines in nature. Upon in his long flight to meet the changing the product of these tiny mills all animate requirements of food and nesting. It is nature depends for food. Their motive instinct that enables the carrier pigeon, power is light, and their raw material the though taken hoodwinked and by night inorganic fluids absorbed by the roots to distant points, to wing his way uner- from the soil, and their product is sugars ringly homeward. Instinct leads the and starches. It will be seen that chloro- thrifty squirrel to stock his larder with phyll is one of the most precious, as well nuts in anticipation of the period that as one of the rarest of substances, for must pass ere nuts are ripe again, and while there may appear a great quantity teaches him to destroy the embryo plant it is superficial, never entering deeply by biting out the germ so that his chest- into the substance of the plant, nuts will not sprout and thus be spoiled The trees, by a sort of instinct, shall for food. The same wonderful power en- we say, withdraw their cohorts of green- ables the bee to build her comb upon the liveried workers from the front as au- strictest mathematical principles so as to tumn approaches and deck themselves in obtain the greatest storage capacity and the more gaudy but less wholesome col- strength of structure with smallest con- ors of declining life. It is after the chlo- S'umption of wax, and then to store it with rophyll is withdrawn that the layer of one of the most perfect and concentrated cork is formed. The sturdy oak usually of foods. These and many other well- holds his brown leaves until they are known cases of animal instinct will occur whipped off by the wind, to the reader, but the object of this article The plants have been using light as a is to mention a few phenomena of plant motive power for ages, while man, with life, whereby they make, what we should his much-vaunted reason, is just begin- designate in human beings, an intelligent ning to utilize the kindred force, elec- adjustment to environment or provision tricity, in arts and sciences. Man makes for their future life and development. light draw a few pictures in sombre black As autumn approaches, even before and white, while nature flings broadcast Jack Frost strikes the first rude signal landscape and life scenes in varied tints for winter quarters for insect and plant, and shades. or the wintry blasts compel the trees to In the process of photosynthesis much furl sail and scud under bare poles, the more energy is received than is necessary forest trees begin to prepare for unfavor- to run the machinery, so the plant, with able conditions by forming and securely commendable frugality, uses it in laying tucking away the bud that is next year to on what botanists call warming-up colors, develop into leaf and flower. Before the If you will notice the peach twigs the next 162 time you take a walk, you will see that of the situation, and really hoped the pcr- the more tender shoots and the buds are tinacious little wretch might proudly decked in rich reds and browns. That scatter her well-matured seed upon the this is not for mere ornament may be hard-beaten path as an inspiration to the practically demonstrated by wrapping the many boys that passed daily, grumbling bulbs of two similar thermometers, the because of the hardness of their lot. But one with a green leaf, the other with a the only moral I can now draw is the fool- brown or red leaf, say of begonia or beet, ishness of delaying in the right start. Then put the two in the sunlight and you Sometimes the supply of light-energy will soon find a difference of from six to is so great that the little chlorophyll ma- ten degrees in favor of the warming-up chines cannot use it in their legitimate color. Speaking of buds, have you ex- work, nor does the plant use it in prepar- amined the horse chestnut bud ? It is ing the warming-up color. Then the disc- prepared for the winter in the most sub- shaped corpuscles turn their edges in-- stantial manner. The future leaf is first stead of their flat surfaces to the light, or wrapped in a quantity of finest silky wool, sometimes move deeper down into the then a number of tough light green cases leaf. In some cases the leaf itself turns are put on, and this is followed by com- edgewise instead of broadside to the sun. pact brown scales neatly overlapping,' There are many plants so constituted with a complete coating of wax, so that that they cannot live from year to year in the interior is effectively protected from our northern climate, and they must the cold and moisture. The use of the make some provision for preserving their warming-up colors is quite common with species, and right cunningly do they do plants. this. At a certain period of its growth the In the far north the same plant that re- potato, for example, puts its starch-mak- quires the whole long growing season to ing machinery to work on full time, and mature its seed, will crowd the whole pro- hurries the starch down below the surface cess into a few weeks. It will suspend of the ground, and stores it up in what growth and all other processes, or run we call a tuber. These tubers have stored them on short time and devote itself al- in them a number of embryo potato most entirely to producing seed, and the plants, whose lack-luster eyes we see seed itself will have much thicker shell. peeping out on all sides. When the time 1 was interested last autumn in the pa- for growth comes, the young plant starts thetic struggle of a humble little Cheno- with a reserve-food supply sufficient to podium album that had started life late keep it growing for some time. We have and under unfavorable circumstances. It all noticed, no doubt, how large a plant came up in September under the north will grow from a potato, even in a corn- piazza near the beaten foot path ; close up paratively dark cellar. We must not to the building. I was first attracted by think that tuber-bearing vines and nut- the fact that, though it was not over a producing trees are actuated entirely by foot high, it had bloomed and was mak- philanthropic motives. Each nut is the ing seed at a desperate rate, while its young tree sent forth with his patrimony sisters earlier in the season reached sev- strapped to his* back, ready to make a eral feet in height before blooming. But, good start in the world as soon as the fa- alas ! for the vanity of the poor little crea- vorable time comes, ture, the cold weather during the Christ- There are many devices for spending mas holidays came on, and the steam be- the winter that limits of time and space ing shut off, the side of the building grew will prevent me writing about. Many of cold and my struggling little friend was them more curious than the simple ex- frozen, and soon its lifeless remains were amples I have cited, the sport and derision of the rude Jan- Plants are themselves generally unable uary winds. I pitied the poor little vaga- to move from their fixed positions, so if bond despite the bad record of her fain- they are to become prominent in the ily. Indeed plants, like people, must suf- world they must send out their children — fer sometimes because of an evil ancestry, and many and ingenious are their devices In this case I was touched by the pathos for accomplishing this end. Most of my 163 readers are familiar with the parachutes a peculiar thick-leaved, stunted, cactus- of the silk weed, dandelion' and various like plant, suited to withstand) the drouth, members of the Compositae family. How In the forests of Central South America they sail through the air. A walk through a great vine climbs to the tops of the tall- the autumn forests will make one the un- est trees and there flaunts its gay colors to conscious, perhaps unwilling, carrier of the breeze. In Damara Land, southwest numerous Spanish needles, stick tights, tropical Africa, upon a small upland sec- burrs and seeds of various plants who tion, and nowhere else in the world, have taught their children to steal rides in grows the marvelous Welwitschea mira- all sorts of provoking ways. I imagine bilis, with no real leaves, but with its two the wicked old mother laughs as her ugly cotyledons, persistent and growing to baby clings to your clothing, sure of a enormous length, living a century and ac- safe ride to a more favorable place for quiring a great trunk, the flower-stalk growing. Many plants achieve the same growing up from the bare trunk while the end in a more pleasant way. They pro- two great leaves, if I may so designate duce fruits and berries so luscious that them, whip about in the breezes for a cen- some bird or animal will carry it some tury without change, except as they fray distance for the sake of the pulp. Man out at the ends. These three so dissimilar himself, philanthropist as he is, when he plants all had a common, not so remote, finds that a plant has produced a luscious ancestor, but have grown so unlike in fruit or palatable seed, will help the dis- their effort to adapt themselves to their tribution and growth, and bring his su- environment, that no casual observer perior intelligence to the assistance of the would suspect they were akin, plant's slow instinct to improve its pro- There is so much to say about the won- duct. A book might be written upon the derful intelligence displayed by plants in methods of seed dissemination. In fact, their various activities, that a volume there is a very interesting book upon the could not do the subject justice. We subject. started with the question, Do plants have We will just notice briefly the marvel- instinct? We end with the question, ous adaptation of plants to their environ- Have they? Rowland Watts, ment. In the dry plains of Arizona grows Still winter holds the frozen ground and fast the streams with ice are bound, There's many a dreary week to come before the flowers bloom; Though everything were lost in snow yet Nature's heart beats warm below And Spring will build her palace gay on hoary Winter's tomb. —George Gee. 164 THE DOVEKIE. (Allealle.) This little bird, often called the Sea Dove, belongs to the family of auks (Alcidae). The range of the Dovekie is quite limited. While the marble mur- relet, a related bird, is confined to the northern Pacific coastof North America, this little bird frequents only the " coast and islands of the north Atlantic and eastern Arctic Oceans; in North Amer ica south in winter to New Jersey." It breeds only in the northern part of its range. It has been observed as far west as the state of Michigan, but its appearance there was, without doubt, accidental, for it prefers the wild sea coast, where the storm and waves bring to it an abundant supply of food. It is said to be a rare visitor on the coasts of the British Islands and it has been reported as common^as far to the northward as Spitzbergen. In Green land, where it is commonly found a close companion of the black-billed auk, the native Greenlanders call the Dovekie the Ice Bird, as they consider it a harbinger of ice. Though the wings of the Dovekie are small in proport.on to the size of its body it flies well and rapidly. One writer states that it will move its wings almost as rapidly as will a humming bird. It is an expert diver and while swimming or resting on the water it will frequently dip its bill into the water. On the land it is much more graceful and walks better than nearly all the other members of the family of auks. It feeds chiefly on small fish, crusta- cea and mollusks and will become very fat during a prolonged stormy season when the waves wash up an abundant supply of crabs and fish. The Dovekie builds a simple nest usually in the crevices of rocky cliffs bordering the sea coast. It lays one or two bluish white eggs which are about the size of the pigeon's. Mr. Saunders in speaking of the hab its of the Dovekie says: "On the ap proach of a vessel this bird has a peculiar way of splashing along the surface of the water, as if unable to fly, and then diving through the crest of an advancing wave; it swims rather deep and very much by the stern." The Dovekie is sometimes called a little auk to distinguish it from the larger species of the family. The flight less great auk, which at one time was common along the north Atlantic coast, belongs to this family. No living rep resentative of the great auk has been reported since the year 1842. Unable to protect itself by flight it was ruth lessly exterminated by the zeal of hunters and fishermen who sought it for food, for its feathers and for the oil that could be extracted from its flesh. As flying ever westward Night's shadows swiftly glide, The sunrise at the dawning illumes the countryside. The stars in quick succession in ether melt away, Until the brightest planet is lost in glowing day. —George Gee. 167 THE SONG SPARROW'S APPEAL. Naturalists tell us that of all creatures work — as if desirous to give expression below man, the largest animal brain in to her gratitude, she reappeared upon proportion to the size of the body is found the window-seat, and poured forth a in horses and song-birds. Whatever sweet and touching song, as of thankful- sense beyond instinct the little creature of ness to her benefactors, whom we write may have had, some- She returned three successive seasons, thing, at least, told it that it could obtain to be noticed and fed at the same spot help at human hands. where her acquaintance and familiarity A little sparrow the past season en- with man first commenced, tered the kitchen of one of our country We will add another similar incident, homes, and perched upon the window- which is also absolutely true, sill in evident distress. Its feathers were The correctness is vouched for by Mr. ruffled, and its head ever and anon turned George Babbitt, late captain on Gen. curiously around and up, as if looking at Gresham's staff, of which he himself was something out of the house and above a witness, the window. During the fierce cannonading in one In and out it continued to hop, with- of the battles of the Civil War, a small out intermission, regardless of all offers bird came and perched upon the shoulder of food, until the shutters were closed at of an artilleryman — the man designated, twilight, and various were the surmises we believe, as ''No. i," whose duty it is as to the cause of its strange conduct. to force down the charge after the am- Through the course of the following munition is put in the gun. The piece day the same scene was enacted, without was a "Napoleon," which makes a very any clue appearing as to the cause of its loud report, and the exact scene of this distress. occurrence was at a place called "Nicka- At length, on the third morning, the jack." The bird perched itself upon this mute petition for aid still continuing, one man's shoulder and could not be driven of the family, bethinking herself of the ' from its position by the violent motions bird's curious upturning of the head, of the gunner. When the piece was dis- caught a new idea from it. Perhaps she charged, the poor little thing would run might have a nest in the ivy that encir- its beak and head up under the man's hair cled the window, and something might at the back of. the neck, and when the re- be amiss with its little household. port died away would resume its place Going to the second story and looking upon his shoulder. Captain Babbitt took down, the cause of the trouble was at the bird in his hand, but when released it once manifest. A thick limb of the ivy immediately resumed its place on the had become loosened by the wind, and shoulder of the smoke-begrimed gunner, fallen directly across the petitioner's nest. The singular and touching scene was wit- It was too heavy for the bird to remove, nessed by a large number of officers and and offered an insuperable difficulty in men. It may be a subject of curious in- the way of her getting in to feed her quiry, what instinct led this bird to thus young — now almost lifeless. place itself. Possibly, frightened at the The branch was quickly removed, violent commotion! caused by the battle, when the mother-bird, pausing only for and not knowing how to escape or where a brief inspection of her brood, was on to go, some instinct led it to throw itself the wing in search of food. Her mate upon the gunner as a protector. But, soon joined her, and both were busy as whatever the cause, the incident was a quick wings, worked by hearty good will, most beautiful and pleasing one to all could make them. who witnessed it. Once only did the mother pause in her George Bancroft Griffith. 168 THE WITCH IN THE CREAM. A TRUE STORY. The old stone farm-house in which my said, "and if they jumped in they would grandmother lived had beneath it what drown." Janey shook her head know- I thought a very interesting cellar. The ingly and said, "It's witches, Missy, dat's floor was plastered and whitewashed like jes what it is." A light board was placed the walls, to ensure the place from rats over the milk that evening, but we found and other intruders, as well as to keep it that the marauder pushed it off in the cool. From the walls, flat stones project- night. We felt that we must come to eel, serving as shelves on which the butter Janey's conclusion about the witches, if and milk were kept. For years the milk the mystery were not solved soon, had had a shelf to itself near the window. In the afternoon of the third day of One summer morning, while Grandma these experiences we were sitting on the and I were sitting on the porch waiting back porch with our sewing, both of us for breakfast, the little colored servant half asleep, when chancing to look up I came to us with wide-open eyes, saying : saw a rat go scudding across the yard. "La, Missy, jes look at dis milk-pan !" Straight to the cellar window he went, We looked, and saw, to our disgust, that and, approaching one corner, thrust his the inside of the pan was covered with nose under the sash. He gave a mighty sand and grime, while the milk, which tug, pushed one paw under, and soon, by usually was coated with rich, thick cream, pushing and pulling with nose and with was thin and poor. "Why, Janey," said paws, he crept through the window. Grandma, "you didn't put milk away in a From my position on the porch I could pan like that, did you?" "La, no, Missy," see all that was happening in the cellar, said Janey, "nobody wouldn't nebber put He jumped to the milk shelf, turned milk away in a dirty pan." "This is very around, raised himself on his forepaws, strange," said Grandma. "You will have and clasped the edge of the milk pan with to throw the milk away, Janey, and be his hind ones. especially careful to have the pan clean He then threw his tail into the pan, this evening." "Yes'm," said Janey, "I whisked it rapidly over the milk, coating will." it with cream, and licked it. This he re- Trie following morning, however, the peated until he had a full meal, or at least milk had to be thrown away again, as the until he had skimmed all the cream, pan was in a worse condition than on the He started homeward then, and I was preceding morning. "I don't understand so much amazed that I didn't attempt to it," said Grandma. "It can't be rats, nor stop him. On the following morning he mice, for there is no way for them to was caught in the steel trap set just inside come in." "They couldn't climb into a the window for him. tin pan eight inches high, at any rate," I Elizabeth Roberts Burton. 169 THE BEAVER. The genus of Beavers (Castor) is ap- The habits of the Beaver are very inter- parently represented by a single living esting. Several years are required before species. By some authorities the Amen- its growth is fully attained, and it will in- cari form is considered a distinct species crease in size after the teeth are fully ma- and is given the technical name Castor ture. "Two-year-old Beavers generally canaden'sis, while the European form is weigh about thirty-five to forty pounds, called Castor fiber. In external charac- while very old ones occasionally attain a teristics the two resemble each other very weight of upwards of sixty. Morgan re- closely, and it is in the study of the struc- cords the capture of one which weighed ture of the skeleton that the differences sixty-three pounds. The increase in the appear. However, though there is this size of the skull seems to continue nearly diversity of opinion, it is sufficient for the through life ; in old age the skull not only reader to look upon the two forms' as acquires larger dimensions, but the merely geographical races of the same weight is relatively greater in conse- species, and that the Beaver is a native of quence of the increased thickness and the greater part of the northern hemis- density of the bones. The ridges for the phere. Though its home covered this ex- attachment of muscles also become more tensive area, it has disappeared from the strongly developed in old age." larger number of localities that it once fre- The general color of the back of the quented. Speaking of its range as a Beaver is a reddish brown. The shade whole, it may now be considered rare ex- varies both with the seasons and with the cept in certain isolated localities. This geographical location. Those found far- extermination is due to the advance of ther to the northward are usually darker, civilization upon its natural haunts, and Albinos, either pure white, nearly white the commercial zeal that has stimulated or with white blotches, have been ob- the hunter to greater efforts to effect its served. capture. Within recent years the Beaver "The fur consists of an exceedingly was common in some of the Gulf States, thick, flaky, woolly coat of silky softness In 1876 it was reported as abundant in and a thin, long outer coat composed of Virginia. It is evident from an examina- strong, stiff, shining hair, short on the tion of the numerous writings regarding head and rear part of the back and over its distribution that the Beaver formerly two inches long on the rest of the body." existed in great numbers not only in the The tail, which is rounded at the base, Atlantic States, but also to the westward much flattened and very broad, bears as far as the Pacific coast. horny, dark-colored scales. The Beaver is a member of that large The fore legs are short and the feet are order of gnawing mammals called the unwebbed. The hind legs are much Rodentia, from the Latin word meaning stronger, the feet are fully webbed and to gnaw. In this order are classed all they, alone, are used, with the aid of the those animals that have those peculiar tail, to propel the Beaver through the long incisor teeth which are constantly water. In the water it is graceful in its renewed by growth from the roots and motions, but on the land, like nearly all as constantly worn to a chisel edge, at the animals that are fitted for a partially outer end, by gnawing. Such animals are aquatic life, it is clumsy and awkward and squirrels, the gophers, the mice, the rats, its motions are neither rapid nor uniform, the muskrats, the porcupines, the hares Usually it is only in those districts that and the rabbits. are remote from the habitations of man 170 that the Beaver lives in colonies, consist- of food. "Each cabin has its own maga- ing of several families, and builds its zine, proportioned to the number of its in- "lodges." Nearer civilization it lives in habitants, who have all a common right burrows or tunnels. In the building of to the store and never pillage their neigh- their homes, as well as in the storing of bors." a supply of food, the female is the most The American Indians look upon the active and is the practical builder, while Beaver with great respect. They believe the male assists. that it is possessed of a degree of intelli- Brehm writes interestingly regarding gence second only to that of man. Some the Beaver. He says : "After mature de- Indians even assert that it possesses an liberation the animals select a stream or immortal soul. Its sagacity is certainly pool, the banks of which afford them am- very strong and it will easily adapt itseU" pie provender and seem specially adapted to changed environments. Unlike the for the construction of their 'lodges.' other rodents, it seems to reason before Those which live singly dwell in simple acting and will build its habitations in the subterranean burrows, after the manner form that the surrounding conditions de- of otters ; societies, which generally con- mand for the construction of the most sist of families, as a rule construct houses durable home. and, if there should be a necessity for it, The Beaver, especially when young, is dams, in order to hold back the water and quite easily domesticated. Various preserve it at a uniform height. Some of writers speak of rinding tame Beavers in these dams are from four hundred and Indian villages, where they seemed to be fifty to six hundred feet long, from six to perfectly at home and contented. They nine feet high, from twelve to eighteen were allowed full liberty. "They seemed feet thick at the base and from three to six to feel quite comfortable in the society of feet at the top. They consist of logs vary- the Indian women and children ; they ing in size from the thickness of an arm to grew restless in their absence and showed that of a thigh and from three to six feet much pleasure on their return." long. One end of the log or stake is The young, which number from two to thrust in the ground, the other stands up- three, are born blind, but are covered right in the water ; the logs are fastened with fur. They usually obtain their sight together by means of thin twigs and made in from eight to ten days, and are then led tight with reeds1, mud and earth, in such a to the water by the mother, way that one side presents a nearly ver- Early in the nineteenth century Dr. tical, firm wall to the stream, while the George Shaw wrote as follows regarding other side is sloped. From the ponds the habits of the Beaver : "They collect rising above the dams, canals are con- in September their provisions of bark and structed to facilitate the carrying or float- wood ; after which they enjoy the fruits ing of the necessary construction ma- of their labors, and taste the sweets of terials and food. Beavers do not forsake domestic happiness. Knowing and lov- a settlement they have founded unless the ing one another from habit, from the direst necessity compels them to do so. pleasures and fatigues of a common Beavers' lodges, the origin of which dates labor, each couple join' not by chance, nor very far back, are often found in lonely by the pressing necessities of nature, but woods." unite from choice and from taste. They The Beaver usually feeds upon the bark pass together the autumn and the winter, of the younger branches of trees and Perfectly satisfied with each other, they shrubs and upon their leaves. It will also never separate. At ease in their cabins, strip the older branches, in a very skillful they go not out but upon agreeable or manner, and eat the inner tender portion useful excursions, to bring in supplies of of the bark. During the fall and early fresh bark, which they prefer to what is winter months they work constantly in too dry or too much moistened with preparing and storing, in the neighbor- water." hood of their lodges, the winter's supply 173 PAU-PUK-KEEWIS AND THE BEAVERS. Over rock and over river, Through bush, and brake, and forest, Ran the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis; Like an antelope he bounded, Till he came unto a streamlet In the middle of the forest, To a streamlet still and tranquil, That had overflowed its margin, To a dam made by the beavers, To a pond of quiet water, Where knee-deep the trees were standing, Where the water-lilies floated, Where the rushes waved and whispered. On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis, On the dam of trunks and branches, Through whose chinks the water spouted, O'er whose summit flowed the streamlet. From the bottom rose the beaver, Looked with two great eyes of wonder, Eyes that seemed to ask a question, At the stranger, Pau-Puk-Keewis. On the dam stock Pau-Puk-Keewis, O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet, Flowed the bright and silvery water, And he spake unto the beaver, With a smile he spake in this wise: "O my friend Ahmeek, the beaver, Cool and pleasant is the water; Let me dive into the water, Let me rest there in your lodges; Change me, too, into a beaver!" Cautiously replied the beaver, With reserve he thus made answer: "Let me first consult the others, Let me ask the other beavers." Down he sank into the water, Heavily sank he, as a stone sinks, Down among the leaves and branches, Brown and matted at the bottom. On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis, O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet, Spouted through the chinks below him Dashed upon the stones beneath him 174 Spread serene and calm before him, And the sunshine and the shadows Fell in flecks and gleams upon him, Fell in little shining patches, Through the waving, rustling branches. From the bottom rose the beavers, Silently above the surface Rose one head and then another, Till the pond seemed full of beavers, Full of black and shining faces. To the beavers Pau-Puk-Keewis Spake entreating, said in this wise: 'Very pleasant is your dwelling, O my friends! and safe from danger; Can you not with all your cunning, All your wisdom and contrivance, Change me, too, into a beaver?" "Yes!" replied Ahmeek, the beaver, He the king of all the beavers, "Let yourself slide down among us, Down into the tranquil water." Down into the pond among them Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis; Black became his shirt of deer-skin, Black his moccasins and leggins, In a broad black tail behind him Spread his fox- tails and his fringes; He was changed into a beaver. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Song of Hiawatha.' What rosy pearls, bright -zoned or striped! What freckled surface, iris-dyed! Fluted and grooved, with iv'ry lips, Spotted like panthers, peacock-eyed! Look closer, as the angels can, And you will see the fairy work— The ruby specks, the azure veins, That in the tiniest hollow lurk. —Walter Thornbury, " Shells." 175 SNAILS OF THE OCEAN. Many of my readers have doubtless lusks, measuring eighteen, inches hi spent some of the vacation months at the length. One of the smaller Tritons is sea shore and have wandered over the pictured on the plate. Another shell fa- beach at low tide picking up shells and miliar to those who have visited Florida other objects left by the receding ocean, is the Fasciolaria or banded snail, which They have also, I am sure, peered into attains a length of three inches and is the little pools of water left on the beach very prettily banded and dashed with and have watched with interest the cap- color. ' A near relative of this species is tives imprisoned therein, hermit crabs, the giant banded shell (Fasciolaria gi- fiddler crabs, sea anemones, sea worms gantea), which is the largest of all marine and snail shells. It is with the latter that snails, growing to a length of nearly two the present article will deal. feet. This specks is found plentifully on The stretch of beach which is uncov- the southern Atlantic coast of the Uni- ered twice a day by the receding of the ted States, being particularly abundant water is called "between tides," and is in- about the coral reefs of the Florida Keys, habited by a host of animate creatures, A genus of mollusks with light horn chief among which are the mollusks. colored shells, and inhabiting the cold The marine snails outnumber all of those waters of the Arctic seas, is the Bucci- which we discussed in the last article, and num, or whelk. In various parts of Great their shells are far more beautiful, those Britain it is known as "buckie" and "mut- found in the tropics having the most log." The Buccinum delights to burrow gaudy colors imaginable. The animals in the sand, like the moon shells (Natica), are formed on the same plan as those of and frequently nothing but the end of the the fresh-water snails, although each fam- siphon can be seen, the latter protruding ily has some peculiarity not shared by its from the sand to enable the water to en- relatives. All live in the water and breathe ter the animal to furnish the necessary air through that medium by means of oxygen. The whelk is used economical- gills, similar to the second class of fresh ly, both for food and bait. One ingeni- water snails mentioned in the last number, ous method of catching them is to fasten They are found in all parts of the world, a dead fish of good size in a wire basket those of the tropics, however, being the and to allow it to rest on the bottom for most brilliantly colored. While the ma- a short time; when taken up it is cov- jority of species live either between tides ered with large, fat whelks. This fishery or near low water, there are not a few in Great Britain is fully as valuable as which live in the abysses of the ocean, our oyster fishery, the annual income and have been dredged from the bottom from this industry reaching to thousands of the sea at a depth of two thousand, of pounds sterling. The animal is also seven hundred and forty fathoms, or, to one of the principal baits used in cod pur it more plainly, over three miles. The fishing. A related genus, the neptune average depth at which mollusks are shells (Neptunea), is also eaten by the found in any number is about one thou- poorer people and makes a good codfish sand fathoms. The variability of ma- bait. The two kinds of whelk (Buccinum rine snails is so great that we shall be and Neptunea), are termed, the first the able to call attention to but a limited white whelk and the second the red or number of typical forms. almond whelk, probably on account of Among the best known of the marine the colors of the two shells. In the Shet- snails' are the Tritons, a family of mol- land Islands the red whelk is used as a lusks living in tropical seas. Their shells lamp, being suspended by strings from a are generally large and highly^colored nail, the mouth placed uppermost and and variously ornamented with short filled with oil. spines and knobs. One species, the Tri- The basket shells or dog-whelks are ton tritonis, is among the largest of mol- among the most numerous in individuals 176 of all the marine snail shells, the common blance of the surface of the shell to a mu- black whelk (Nassa obsoleta) being the sical staff, the spiral limes being grouped most common of all the mollusks. The in sets of four or five and the dots being writer has seen a mud flat at low water arranged as notes. In some specimens literally paved with : the shells of this snail, this resemblance is quite close. The there being millions of the little crea- smooth and polished shell of some vol- tures crawling about. The shells of this utes is due to the fact that the greater family are frequently very handsome, be- portion is covered by a reflected part of ing latticed by the crossing of lateral and the large foot. longitudinal lines. They are mostly of On the sandy shores of subtropical small size, scarcely exceeding an inch in beaches certain graceful and polished ani- length, many of them being much under mals bury themselves from sight in the these dimensions. The animal is very sand. These are the olive shells (Oliva) rapid in movement and leaves a distinct whose bright colors and highly polished track in the mud, which will frequently surfaces rival even the gaudy Volute in end at a little pellet of mud, which, upon beauty. The foot may be described as examination, will disclose the little ani- plough-shaped and is admirably adapted mal nicely concealed beneath. for digging rapidly in the sand, so that The Nassas of France are very de- the shell may be hidden from sight on the structive to the oyster beds of that na- approach of enemies. The long siphon is tion, an adult "borer" being able to per- thrust up through the canal in the an- forate the shell of a large oyster in a sin- terior part of the shell and its end pro- gle night. So numerous are these pests trudes above the sand. The high polish that a single acre has yielded over a thou- of the surface is due to the shell being sand individuals. As a result of these enveloped in the voluminous foot; hence depredations the French oystermen carry it has no epidermis. The aperture is so on a relentless war against the Nassa, de- narrow that it is difficult to understand stroying thousands of animals annually, how the animal gets in and out. The With all this persecution the mollusk still olives arc very numerous in individuals ; exists and even increases in numbers, when one is found hundreds are sure to The dead shells of this genus are a fa- reward a patient search, vorite home for the hermit crabs of small Probably no more distinct family of size, and it is to be suspected sometimes mollusks exists than the Conidae, the that other than dead shells are appro- family of cones, their beautifully deco- priated. We fear that a sort of piracy is rated shells and the large number of spe- resorted to by^the hermit crab, resulting cies making them a favorite with collect- in a kind of "walk-the-plank" end for the ors. The shell is in the form of an invert- mollusk, before the new tenant takes pos- ed cone, gracefully rounded, the aper- session of the "home." ture being but a narrow slit extending Of the many varieties of tropical shells, nearly the whole length of the shell. The few exceed the Volutes, or bat shells, in colors of the cones are always very bril- beauty or variety of coloration. They liant. although when they are alive the are found in most parts of the world, al- shell is not brilliantly polished as the though strangely enough none are now olives, on account of the presence of an living in the seas of Europe, but they are epidermis. About three hundred species most abundant and more highly colored are known, living principally in tropical in the tropics and subtropics. The ani- seas. They love to conceal themselves in mal is carnivorous, and the long, fang- holes in the rocks and among the shaped teeth are certainly suggestive of branches of corals. The animal is pre- predaceous habits. The shells are vari- daceous, boring into the shells of other ously colored, some being mottled, some mollusks ami extracting the juices from with zigzag or lightning-like markings, the bodies. The teeth of Conus are hoi- while others have spirally arranged dots low and very sharp and have a barb on and lines. One species (Voluta nrusica, - the end. A poison gland is said to be figured on the plate), has received its present in this genus and bites from the name from a more or less fanciful resem- animal are very painful, although not 179 dangerous, the large Conus marmoreus the helmet shells. These are well adapt- being able to inflict a severe wound. The ed for this purpose, as the shell is made cone is quite pugnacious and will imme- up of several differently colored layers, diately bite the hand when picked up, a making a bas relief figure not only pos- ver itable reptile of the ocean. sible but very effective. The black hel- The ne plus ultra of mollusks to the met (Cassis madagascariensis) is one of collector is without doubt the genus Cy- the best for this purpose, the figure being praea, comprising the cowry shells. So carved from the white, outer layer of eagerly have they been sought by wealthy shell, which stands out very clearly collectors that the price of rarities has against the black background of the sec- gone up to an astonishing degree, some ond layer. When a cameo is desired specimens -being sold at several hundred simply as a brooch or for any other form dollars each. The shell is highly polished, of personal adornment, a piece of the owing to the fact that two lobes of the shell is cut out and shaped into the re- voluminous mantle are turned back over quired form and size— oval, square or the shell and meet in the middle of the other shape — and cemented to a block of back. The foot is very large and spread- wood. The figure is then traced on the ing, the mantle beset with curious little shell with a pencil and finally carefully tentacular-like organs and the eyes are worked out with sharp, pointed steel in- placed on small swellings near the base struments, of delicate size and form. The of the long, cylindrical tentacles. The same process is resorted to in working color-patterns of the shell vary to a won- out a bas relief on the entire shell, only derful degree. The young shell has a the latter is placed in a vice or other ob- thin epidermis, a sharp lip to the aper- ject to hold it firmly. The home of this ture and a more or less prominent spire, industry is Genoa and Rome, Italy, al- the rolled over and toothed lip and pol- though some are produced in France; ished surface not being acquired until these latter, however, are of a poorer fully adult. No more beautiful sight can quality. Several thousand people are em- be imagined than one of these gorgeous ployed in this trade. Many beautiful ex- animals, as seen through the clear water, amples of this work were exhibited at the crawling over the sandy bottom or on World's Columbian Exposition, in Chi- the branch of some coral. cago, in 1893. Several of the cowries have a curious The cameo shells are among the largest economic value. Thus, Cypraea auran- of sea snails, several of them measuring tia, the orange cowry, was used as an in- eight or ten inches in length and weigh- signia of royalty by the chiefs of the ing several pounds. They, are found only Friendly Islands, and for a long time the in tropical and subtropical seas, living in only specimens obtainable were those comparatively shallow waters on a sandy which had been bored and used. The bottom. They are voracious eaters, liv- money cowry (Cypraea moneta) has been ing principally on bivalve mollusks. used as money by the natives of Western One of the most abundant of mollusks Africa, and many tons of this small shell is the violet sea snail (lanthinia corn- were annually imported to England to be munis), which spends its life floating in used in barter by the African traders, the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The The shell is of a yellowish or whitish shell is very delicate, resembling in form color, does not exceed an inch in length, some of the land snails, and has but two and is very common in the Pacific and colors, both shades of violet, a deep color Indian Oceans. It is still used as a me- on the under side (which, by the way, is dium of barter in parts of Africa, al- always turned upward when the animal is though other things have pretty gener- ' floating in the water), and a lighter shade ally taken its place. on the upper side. So fragile is the shell Cameos were at one time quite in the that it seems as if a breath would break fashion, both as ornaments for the per- it. The most interesting fact in connec- son in the way of brooches, and as brie- tion with this mollusk is the wonderful a-brac about the room. These shell- float or "raft" which is secreted by the cameos are made from the genus Cassis, foot, and to the under side of which the 180 eggs are attached. The latter are not all in the same condition. Nearest to the animal they are more or less fresh ; those in the middle of the float contain embryos and fully formed young, while those on the outer end are empty, the young hav ing escaped into the water. The genus is gregarious and may be found in almost countless numbers. After a severe storm they are sometimes cast upon the beaches in vast numbers, where they soon die under the fierce rays of the sun. We have thus far been dealing with snails whose shells were formed in a spiral coil. Quite a number of mollusks are not protected by such a shell, its place being taken by a flat, shield-like disk, or several distinct plates placed side by side. The most familiar of the first is the limpet or Patella, which is a depressed, conical, oval disk, looking not unlike a miniature shield. They live on rocks, to which they cling with great tenacity. The animal seems to have a pretty clear idea of local geography, for it invariably returns to the same place after its excursions for food and the rock in some localities has been hollowed out to a considerable depth by the continuous dwelling thereon of the limpet. The large foot is very strong and it is almost impossible to dislodge the shell from the rock when the animal becomes alarmed and is aware that dan ger is near. While grazing along the sides of a rock covered with fine sea- weed, it will leave a track like a worm and will clean off quite an area in a very short space of time. Another species is the key-hole limpet (Fissurella), distinguished by having a slit or foramen in the apex of the shell. The shells of Fissurella are generally rougher than those of Patella, and as a rule they live in warmer seas. In the limpet we find a departure from the gen eral form of both animal and shell, both being bilaterally symmetrical, that is, having both sides alike. In the mol lusks which have been presented thus far, the body has been twisted in the form of a spiral, making one side different from the other and causing the organs of one side to become atrophied. In the limpets the organs are paired, as they are sup posed to have been in the ancestors of the living mollusks. The most peculiar of all the mollusks, so peculiar, indeed, that they constitute a separate order (Polyplacophora) are the Chitons, or coat-of-mail shells. The shell is made up of eight separate pieces or plates, each locking with the other, the whole supported by and buried in a coria ceous mantle which forms a margin all the way around. This must not be con founded with the true mantle of the ani mal, for it is only a part of the shell. It is beset with bristles, spines or hairs, which add much to the peculiar appearance of this mollusk. The Chitons, live for the most part on rocks at low water and are said to be nocturnal in habit, feeding only at night. Their movements are slow and they ap pear to be very sluggish in all their ac tions. When detached and taken from their rocky homes they have the provok ing (to the collector) habit of rolling up and are sometimes very difficult to straighten out again. There are about two hundred and fifty living species, found in all parts of the world. In the foregoing pages we have called attention to* a few types of marine snails, and what has been written has hardly more than touched upon this vast field. There are thousands of different species even more interesting than those which have been mentioned. There are the beautiful ear shells, or Abalones, the little periwinkle, so largely used as an article of food in Europe, besides a host of others too numerous to mention. The brief notes and the figures on the plate will convince the reader, it is hoped, that these inhabitants of the deep are not only beautiful and worthy of our attention and study, but are also of much practical and economical use to man. • Frank Collins Baker. 181 THE LEMON. In 1636 an English report on the affairs of the navy gravely remarked that "the use of lemon is a precious medicine and well tried. Take two or three spoonfuls each morning and fast after it two hours." The value of the fruit for certain disorders of the system seems to have received an early recog nition. This was especially true with regard to scurvy, which in earlier days caused widespread mortality among seafaring men. Hawkins, in 1593, made the statement that more than ten thou sand men had succumbed to the malady within the limits of his naval experi ence. The Crusaders under Louis IX. were severely attacked by scurvy, ow ing to their abstinence from fresh meat during Lent, and the history of the dis ease shows that it is occasioned by a lack of fresh meat and fruits. The efficacy of lemon juice was recognized by Drake, Davy, Cavendish, Dampier and many others years ago, and time has but added to the value of the fruit, while it has made it accessible to every one. While Pomona is generally cred ited with having devoted her entire at tention to the cultivation of the apple, it is stated on authority of an old Greek myth, that she gave consider able thought to the development of the Lemon and the orange. It appears that Pomona inclined not her ear to the supplications of her many admirers until Vertumnus, discerning her vulnera ble point, presented the fair gardener with a grafting, which, under her skill ful cultivation, developed into a lemon tree, and, as a reward, the favor of the wood-nymph was bestowed upon the youth. Whether or not such was the origin of the Lemon, the fact remains that the fruit is most useful and the tree exceed ingly attractive. Originally a native of Asia, it has become widely distributed in Europe, Africa and America, and although far more susceptible to injury from frosts than the orange, the trees are successfully cultivated under many conditions. Doubtless the best results in this country have been obtained in California. Thousands of acres around San Diego are planted with lemon trees while large districts in the Ojai Valley, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Pomona and Los Angeles counties are devoted to its cultivation. The tree is remarkable for beauty, and while it seldom attains large proportions, its pale green leaves, loosely-hanging branches, showy and fragrant flowers, together with the fruit that is found in all stages of develop ment, produce a pleasing and highly ornamental effect. While the best crop of Lemons is generally gath ered between December and April, the fruit should be picked every month for ten months of the year, in order to retain the best results. As a rule, the trees yield from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and forty boxes of the fruit to the acre, about the sixth year, but this number is increased to four hundred boxes when the groves reach an age of ten years. The varieties of Lemons are distin guished chiefly by their size and form, and may be roughly classified as egg- shaped with blunt nipples and ob long lemons with large nipples. The sweet lemon and thin-rind Poncine and Naples belong to the firstclass, while the second includes such forms as the imperial, the Gaeta and the wax. The principal varieties grown in California are the Lisbon, Eureka and the Villa- Franca. Of these, the Eureka orig inated in California, while the Villa- Franca was imported from Europe. Besides the grateful quality of the juice, the expressed oil of the rind is used in the arts and has an intense odor of lemon, and the Pundits of Benares, quote a Sanskrit work, written about 1354, in which the oil is described as a valuable medicine. The acid pulp of the. Lemon, after rasping off the rind, is pressed for citric acid, while the ottos of the Lemon, orange and bergamot, the preparation of which forms the chief industry of Sicily, are leading ingredients in the preparation of "Lis bon Water" and "Eau de Portugal." — Charles S. Raddin. 182 5*1 TWO WRENS. The house wren is one of Nature's illu minated successes. It has been said that there is no second spring, yet to-day (July 20th) this bird is in the £ull glory of spring-time melody. He sings from the top of a telegraph pole, the song caught up and repeated by some country cousin in the grove, a musical argument carried on all day long and left at night in the same unsettled state in which morning found it. Whether they are discussing the relative merit of their respective •claims, a town residence or a country seat, I am unable to decide ; it is certain, however, that the concessions of neither party infringe upon domestic dignity. Their speech is a revelation of supreme content, a liquid, flexible measure with ripples and cascades bubbling through and over, a dash of pure color amid July's neutral tinted emotions. The day may 'be dark and threatening, the sun concealed in gloomy banks of cloud, rain falling, or thick mists obscur ing the valley; each and all are powerless to dampen his ardor or to effect his ex treme optimism. He clings to his creed with persistent closeness, asserting val iantly the ecstasy of finding one's self alive and emphasizing the statement by a perfect wave of melodious argument. There are hours when he sings with such force that his whole little body catches the key-note and natural rhythm ; the melody becomes compounded of his very substance, body of his body and soul of his soul. It is an inundation of musi cal notes, cascadic, cataclysmic, the tide of song rising till it drowns his personali ty ; he is no longer a bird1 but an animated song. My little neighbor is a pattern of hus bandly devotion, a lover-husband over whom coming events are already casting tender shadows before, the special event in this instance being located in a crevice beneath the eaves of the house. Wren babies had not left the first nest when Jenny Wren's husband was hard at work upon a second house, which was ready for occupancy before the first fam ily were self-supporting. This was an admirable arrangement in the way of time-saving, .as eggs are often laid in the second nest before the first is vacated. Though the new house lacked the freshness of coloring and the pictur- esqueness of the swing of a nest in the sunshine, Jenny Wren made no com plaint of being cooped up in the darkness, and as to her husband, he was quite as well pleased with the glamor and won der of its art as if it had been wound with blossoms and sprinkled with star-dust. A bird with different tastes might have urged that it was only a little hole in the house-jet, yet everything in life depends upon the point of view from which you regard it. Judged from the wren stand point, it was considered admirably adapt ed to the family needs, nor could the most critical observer fail to see here a literal illustration of that familiar truth : Happi ness is from within. Standing upon a ladder I counted eight eggs as my eyes became gradually accus tomed to the partial darkness within the nest ; the dark, vinaceous spots laid on so thickly as to conceal or obliterate the original color, thus helping to hide them more securely; In the long brooding days, when Jenny's little answering heart is preoccupied and silent, the hours are sometimes long and lonely to her mate. At these times he has been known to de vote his spare moments to building a nest simply for his own pleasure. Many in stances of this remarkable habit are re corded of the English wren, the explana tion offered being that the odd nests are 185 for the purpose of deceiving the parasiti- oriole is sometimes used for a second cal cuckoo. nesting. There is also a supposition that the There was bitter disappointment in bird's active nature finds relief in work, wren circles earlier in the season when, being urged on by the increasing lone- with the presumption of inexperience, the someness. This wren-trait reaches a cli- pump was filled regularly with coaise max in the marsh wrens, with whom the twigs, which were promptly dislodged at building habit becomes a passion. nightfall. Undiscouraged at this defeat, Nor is it restricted to the wren family, the morning hours were utilized for re- many instances being recorded where building with a persistency well worthy other species have beguiled the waiting a more intelligent effort; they worked days by an imitative housekeeping. and sang, sang and worked, until a cigar The house phoebe has been known to box was nailed to a tree for their special build a second nest while its mate was accommodation. This was nearly full of brooding. To all appearances this was twigs when they decided that the build- an instance of over-developed domestic ing-site was ineligible, a decision has- tastes. Nor did the experiment end with tened by the fact that just at this oppor- the completion of the duplicate nest upon tune time a glas's fruit can was left upon which the male bird sat regularly for sev- the piazza shelf. No sooner was this eral hours daily. glass house seen than its possibilities Wrens do not take kindly to double were realized and plans were quickly houses, their warlike nature seeming to made for a kind of crystal palace experi- revolt against living friendly with near ment. Under other circumstances this neighbors. A pair of wrens that was might have been a dangerous precedent, well established in an unoccupied martin as certain unneighborly conduct toward house made it very uncomfortable for the their little brothers of the air had at vari- later arrivals. While the martins were ous times fairly invited the throwing of abroad after material for the nest the stones. The can was half full of tiny wrens sallied forth in an utterly vindic- fagots, and Jenny was thinking of settling tive spirit and scratched out all their upon the mattress of wood fibre when neighbors had constructed. After sing- the thrifty housewife turned them adrift ing a triumphant song with much parade summarily, well aware that this kind of they wisely retired to their own domicile housekeeping, within easy range of to be on the defensive. neighboring cats, would not be success- Wiser wrens, with an instinctive ful. Before such supreme content, who knowledge that an ounce of prevention is could have the heart to undeceive them? worth a pound of cure, are known to And yet, the can was turned upside down have the forethought when the box in before they could be made to understand which they build contains two compart- the situation. Like Thoreau, they did ments, to fill up one of them, thus avoid- not wish to practice self-denial unless it ing the risk of troublesome neighbors, was quite necessary ! Wrens have been known to nest in a hu- After the failure of this crystal scheme, man skull. Others with less question- it was a difficult matter for Jenny to able taste, have gone to housekeeping in make up her mind as to a further prefer- an old boot, a watering pot, a coat sleeve ; ence, but when she really decided it was in gourds and baskets, jars and water with such entire good faith as left no pipes, while another pair made a nest in doubt in her lover's mind as to her judg- the lower part of a stone vase in the gar- ment. This was more flattering as it was den. There was a hole for drainage in his own choice, their last year's home the bottom of the vase, and through this thoroughly remodeled, to which he had hole they found, beneath some shavings, repeatedly called her attention, vainly. So a circular space just suited for a nest, the hole in the house jet at least answered The vase was not filled with plants until the question, "Where are the birds in last the domestic affairs of the wren family year's nests?" for the wrens moved in were happily concluded. regularly, the tenor having a perch upon The delicate swaying hammock of the a projecting bracket where Jenny joined 186 him, a regular little termagant, scolding bird bubbling over with a nervous ener- with all her might whenever the kittens gy that betrays itself in every note he ut- looked that way. ters. Wait quietly and he approaches, Marsh wrens, small brown birds, with but go one step in his direction and he barred wings and tail, breed in or about recedes to the swamp where human foot the swamps and marshes of Lake Cham- may not follow, plain. Push your boat up the creek, the only They are intensely interesting from avenue leading to his abode, that tantal- their habit of constructing several nests izing song leading on meanwhile like the but one of which is utilized for house- Pied Piper of Hamelin, though unlike the keeping. After the real nest is made and latter there is no disillusioning at the end. the first egg laid, the male stays closely Red-winged blackbirds take wing as you at home busying itself with building sev- enter the twilight of soft green and am- eral nests, which are to all appearances ber shade and the far-off music of their entirely superfluous. In locating these jangle-bells becomes less musical, the he does not go beyond the immediate males striving "to recommend themselves neighborhood of the true nest. by music, like some awkward youth who Some have thought that these sham serenades his mistress with a jewsharp," nests are used as hiding places for the and using the air or the alder tops as a male, a Lilliputian watch tower or guard parade ground upon which to exhibit house, from which close watch is kept their musical evolutions. And yet you over the home property. Whether Mrs. are witness to many a voluntary bit of Marsh Wren really needs such close sentiment that will increase your interest watching, being more inclined to flirt in this scarlet epauletted regiment, de- than the ordinary feathered spouse, or scendants of the dusky tribe that anchor- because she is a better wife, so infinitely ed long ago in this peaceful haven, going precious that she must be guarded from out and coming in with the tide until the every side, is, as yet, an unsolved ques- legend of their coming is as vague and tion. "Love holds the key to all un- shadiowy and misty as that of the golden- known," and though there is little to ad- fleece voyageurs — the Argonauts. They mire in a deportment made fine by com- ebbed and flowed with the stream ; came pulsory measures, no doubt both parties at the proper time and season without understand the situation, which is quite knowing why ; anchored and launched enough for practical purposes. These their ebony ships when it was time for nests, conspicuous from their size and sailing. exposed position, are securely attached Here and there along this waterway to the upright swaying reeds, some of the branches clasp hands above the creek, which penetrate their substance. They forming an arch of green within which are lined with soft grasses and have an vines sufficiently elegant to warrant ex- entrance at one side, often nearer the clusiveness cling in unaffected grace to bottom than the top. Mr. Burroughs, the alders, without inquiring or caring who has found the marsh wren's nest as to the pedigree of their support. It is surrounded by half a dozen make-be- sufficient for them that the support is lieves, says the gushing, ecstatic nature there. of the bird expresses itself in this way. A whole half mile along the stream and It is simply so full of life and joy and of trees and bushes disappear, leaving a parental instinct that it gives vent to it- dense mass of reeds, the marsh wren's self in constructing sham nests ; the gen- "am countrie," out of which he is never erous-hearted creature being willing to at his best and to which he gives you no build and support more homes than can welcome. be furnished or utilized. Birds, like persons, have wonderful Entering the Lake Shore drive at St. powers of concentration upon one topic, Albans Bay, where dense tangles border woe be to you if that topic happens to be the swamp beyond, you are sure to hear yourself ! a song that is unmistakably wrennish. Every denizen of the swamp regards You have glimpses also of a small brown you with suspicion, watching each move- is? ment as closely as if you were a danger ous character traveling under an alias, and could not be trusted to sail upon this ruddy ocean in which their lordships have anchored their private yachts. Push your boat far in among the reeds and cat tails, into the sea of shadows over which no sluggish current sends a ripple, and certain globular nests in the tangled reeds reward your search. Push your fingers within these nests and in one only, here and there, will you find from five to ten dark eggs, a rich reward for all your trouble. Meanwhile the "neighbors, and the marsh wren generally has numbers of them, have doubtless been charming you with their bubbling, gurgling song, al ways half the colony singing at once, or, one bird rising above the reeds gives the order, as it were, and the whole colony joins in the chorus. The song is* quite be yond their control; they seem filled to overflowing with an inexhaustible supply of music, which trickles down the reeds, like gath'ered-up drops of water charged with music. "Sometimes, like a mine of melody, it explodes within them and lifts them from the dark recesses of the flags into the air above." Nelly Hart Woodworth. WHEN SPRING COMES. Again the birds will weave their nests, And come and go on airy wing; And one will nurse her little guests And one will watch and sweetly sing. The bushes small and towering trees Their leaves of living green will don, And, swaying in the restless breeze, Will laugh because old Winter's gone. — George Gee. 188 ttfl FROM KCEMLER'8 MEDICINAL-PFLANZEN. CUBEBS. CHICAGO: A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLI8HEI CUBEBS. (Piper cubeba I/.) Aromatics, as cubebs, cinnamons and nutmegs, are usually put into crude poor wines to give them more oily spirits. — Floyer, "The Humors." The cubeb-yielding plant is not unlike the pepper plant and belongs to the same family (Piperaceae). The two resemble each other in general habits in the form of inflorescence and! in the fruiting. Cubebs were known to Arabian phy sicians as early as the ninth century, who employed them as a diuretic in kidney troubles. It was also known at that time that Java was the home of the plant. At one time it was believed that the Car- pesium of ancient writers was cubebs, but this is now generally disbelieved. Edrisi states that cubeb found its way to Aden about 1 153. During the twelfth and thir teenth centuries it was employed medicin ally in Spain. Originally it was doubtless employed as a spice, similar to pepper. Mariano Sanudo (1306) classed it among the rare and costly spices. Hildegard re ferred to the soothing properties of cnbeb. In the thirteenth centuty cubeb is men tioned among the import articles of Lon don. About the same time it found its way into other European countries, nota bly Germany. At the beginning of the nineteenth century cubeb disappeared al most entirely from medical practice. About 1820 English physicians of Java again began to employ it quite exten sively. As in the case of black pepper, the fruit is collected before maturity and dried. The fruit is about the size of the pepper, but has a stalk-like prolongation which distinguishes it. The pericarp becomes much shriveled and wrinkled on drying. Cubebs are cultivated in special planta tions or with coffee for which they pro vide shade by spreading from the trees which serve as their support. Their culti vation is said to be easy. Cubebs have a pungent, bitter taste and a characteristic aromatic odor. It cannot readily be confounded with any of the other more common spices. Its use as a spice is almost wholly discontinued. Its use in medicine is also waning, since it evidently has only slight medicinal prop erties. It is used in nasal and other catarrhal affections. Cubeb cigarettes are used in the treatment of nasal catarrh. It has a marked influence upon the kid neys, causing irritation an-d increased ac tivity, and as already indicated it is there fore a diurectic. It is, however, harmful, rather than beneficial, in acute inflamma tory conditions of these organs. Description of Plate — A, twig with staminate flowers ; B, fruit-bearing twig ; I, upper portion of staminate inflores cence ; 2, staminate flower ; 3, fruit ; 4, 5, 6, 7, ovary ; 8, 9, seed. Albert Schneider. 191 A TREE-TOP TOWN. Before the cradled violets awake beneath the grass, Or any but the crocuses and catkins have come back, Always 'tis then the loveliest thing of all things comes to pass,— A twit-twit-twitter on the mild spring breeze, A twit-twit-twitter in the leafing trees, Through which small sky-blue wings flash out a sky-blue track— For blue-birds, first adventurous house-builders of the year, Are at their old, wise tricks again of settling far and near. Not long, 'tis when the hyacinths and tulips bloom in rows, And lilies-of-the-valley start to whitening on their stems, And woodsy things are opening fast to make a new out'-doors, Then robin-redbreast on a sunny day Comes taking life his usual charming way, With a blithe and merry Che-che-chem-chem-chems! While yet dry leaves and building twigs are left upon the ground " I thought I'd come to the old place and take a look around." Then later, when the grasses curl, a-tilt in taller growth, And nooks for snuggeries are made by grape and ivy-vines, When lilacs stand in ^purple, and the plum-trees blossom forth, Comes here a lilting, gay, and gaudy troop, Tits, thrushes, bobolinks, blue-jays with noisy whoop, Kingbirds, wild tumblers in the air, drunk with ethereal wines; Then cardinals, and indigoes, and finches find the place, And so the town-site in the trees grows populous apace. One waiting for the apple-blooms is he who's always late, The oriole: his building-site none e'er disputes with him. Though last to come he has full leave to settle, with his mate, And hang his hammock up to rock and swing, To flout the town on breezy, orange wing From where his house sways airily adown a pendant limb. And now the high, green tree-top town, which welcomes ev'ry comer, Has settled to the business of singing out the summer. — Austin Arnold McCausland. 192 BIRDS ftND NATURE. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. VOL. IX. MAY, 1901. No. 5 MAY. May brings all the flowers at once, Teased by rains and kissed by suns; Now the meadows white and gold; Now the lambs leap in the fold. May is wreathed with virgin white; Glad May dances all the night; May laughs, rolling 'mong the flowers, Careless of the wintry hours. May's storms turn to sunny rain, And, when Iris springs again, All the angels clap their hands, Singing in their seraph bands. —Walter Thornbury, " The Twelve Brothers." Now, shrilleth clear each several bird his note, The Halcyon charms the wave that knows no gale, About our eaves the swallow tells her tale, Along the river banks the swan, afloat, And down the woodland glades the nightingale. Now tendrils curl and earth bursts forth anew— Now shepherds pipe and fleecy flocks are gay — Now sailors sail, and Bacchus gets his due — Now wild birds chirp and bees their toil pursue— Sing, poet, thou — and sing thy best for May! -William M. Hardinge, "Spring." 193 AUDUBON'S ORIOLE. (Icterus audubonii} The name oriole is from the French word oriol, which is a corruption of the Latin word aureolus, meaning golden. The name was originally applied to a vire, but is now used hi a much wider sense and includes a number of birds. The true orioles are birds of the Old World and are closely related to the thrushes. It is said that no fewer than twenty species from Asia and Africa have been described. The orioles of America belong to a very different group of birds and are related to our blackbirds, the bobolink and the meadowlark. All these birds belong to the family Icteridae, the representatives of which are confined to the New World. The genus of orioles (Icterus) contains about forty species, chiefly natives of Central and South America. The plu mage of nearly all the species is more or less colored with shades of yellow, or ange and black. Audubon's Oriole, the male of which we illustrate, has a very limited range, including the "valley of the Lower Rio Grande in Texas and southward in Mex ico to Oaxaca." It is more common in central and eastern Mexico than in any other part of its range. In the summer, it only frequents the denser forests of its Texas home, but during the winter months it will approach the inhabited re gions. The Mexicans capture these Orioles and offer them for sale. In captivity, however, they seem to lose their vivacity and will not sing. "When free their us ual song is a prolonged and repeated whistle of extraordinary mellowness and sweetness^, each note varying in pitch from the preceding." It is said that this beautiful bird is fre quently called upon to become the foster parents of the offspring of some of those birds that have neither the inclination to build their own nests or to raise their own families. The ingenious nests of the orioles seem to be especially attractive to these tramp birds which possess para sitic tastes. The red-eyed -cowbird (Collothrus ro- bustus), of the Southern United States and Central America, seems to be the pest that infests the homes of Audubon's Oriole. It has been stated that the ma jority of the sets of eggs collected from the nests of this Oriole contain one or more of the cowbird's eggs. It is also probable that many of the Oriole's eggs are destroyed by the cowbirds as well as by other agencies, and thus, though the raising of two brood's the same season is frequently attempted, the species is far from abundant. Regarding the nesting habits of the Audubon's1 Oriole, Captain Charles Ben- dire says, "The nest of this Oriole is us ually placed in mesquite trees, in thick ets and open woods, from six to fourteen feet from the ground. It is a semipensile structure, woven of fine, wire-like grass used while still green and resembles those of the hooded and orchard orioles, which are much better known. The nest is firm ly attached, both on the top and sides, to small branches and growing twigs and, for the size of the bird, it appears rather small. One now before me measures three inches in depth inside by about the same in inner diameter. The rim of the nest is somewhat contracted to prevent the eggs from being thrown out during high winds. The inner lining consists of some what finer grass tops, which still retain considerable strength and are even now, when perfectly dry, difficult to break. Only a single nest of those found was placed in a bunch of Spanish moss and this was suspended within reach of the ground ; the others were attached to small twigs." ROM COL. CHI. ACAO. SCIENCES. AUDUBON'S ORIOLE. (Icterus audubonii). ?< Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1901, BY A. W. MUMFORO, CHICAGO. The number of eggs vary from two to shades of either brown, purple or laven- five and "sets of one or two eggs of this der. Oriole, with two or three cowbird's eggs, The food of Audubon's Oriole consists seem to be most frequently found, some of insects and, to some extent, of berries of the first named eggs being thrown out and other fruits. Mr. Chark, who studied to make room." The eggs are ovate in the habits of this species in* Texas, says form and the general color varies from that he observed it frequently feeding on white with a bluish cast to white with a the fruit of the hackberry. He also states grayish cast and in some instances a pur- that these birds were usually in pairs and pie shade predominates. The markings exhibited a retiring disposition, prefer- vary greatly both in color and form. They ring the thick foliage of the margins of may be either thread-like, in streaks or in streams rather than that of more open blotches. In color they may be various and exposed places. Seth Mindwell. TO A SEA-BIRD. Sauntering hither on listless wings, Careless vagabond of the sea, Little thou heedest the surf that sings, The bar that thunders, the shale that rings,— Give me to keep thy company. Little thou hast, old friend, that's new, Storms and wrecks are old things to thee; Sick am I of these changes, too; Little to care for, little to rue,— I on the shore, and thou on the sea, All of thy wanderings, far and near, Bring thee at last to shore and me; All of my journeyings end them here, This our tether must be our cheer,— I on the shore and thou on the sea. Lazily rocking on ocean's breast, Something in common, old friend, have we; Thou on the shingle seek'st thy nest, I to the waters look for rest,— I on the shore, and thou on the sea. —Bret Harte, 197 FROM AN ORNITHOLOGIST'S YEAR BOOK. THE HEART OF A DRYAD, I. It was an oak wood. A few hickories with white and fuscous and black, as a and chestnuts grew there, but the oaks brooding creature should be that sits all ruled; great of girth, brawny of limb, day long amid the play of fleeting light with knotted muscles like the figures of and shade upon constant color. But both Michael Angelo or Tintoretto's workmen were beautiful in their strong and dart- in his painting of the Forge of Vulcan. As ing flight, and their labors of love, to coloring, the oaks were of the Venetian The mother alone fashioned the nest, painter's following, every oak of them ! weaving it strongly of grasses and bark, In summer they were "men in green," of fibre, hair and string, and lashing it rich, vigorous green, with blue shadows firmly near the end, a hanging cradle for between the rustling boughs ; in early au- the wind to rock at will and safely, and tumn, though russet in the shadow, the beautifully adorned with a fantastic pat- sunshine showed them a deep and splen- tern of green oak leaves, woven across, did crimson, pouring through them like a and aiding to conceal the nest itself. The libation to the gods of the lower earth, eggs, four to six, were white, but marked and to the noble dead, for the Dryad had with strange characters, sometimes dis- a heart for heroes and all oak-like men. tinct, sometimes obscure, a hieroglyphic Immediately before the great winds of black or fuscous lines, over which the came, stripping them bare, and dashing mother brooded patiently for many days, silver cymbals to wild airs of triumph, But the male oriole was not indifferent, they wore a sober brown, but it put on a even while the young were in the egg. glow, as of bronze or heated metal after He did not fear to expose himself upon an a rain, when the sun's rays smote them upper branch, where he could watch un- with shining spears smiting aslant with tiringly over the safety of the beloved unwonted glittering. Under the moon nest and all day long, in bright or cloudy or after a freeze they were all clad in steel, weather, floated down to his silent mate armor of proof, and mighty was the tu- a song of courage and tenderness, mult, as of meeting swords, when the Ah, no shepherds in far-off Arcady great boughs swung, and the long icicles ever piped more sweetly to their beloved fell upon ice below. than this winged lover ! His note is wild But these days were far off. It was and free, a touch of anxious pleading per- summer, and a crystal brook slipped from haps in the brooding song that one does level to level, singing its sweet water- not catch in the first triumphant cry of song, and bringing cool water to bathe joy with which he flashes upon our sight the feet of the oak which the Dryad loved in April, but inexpressibly sweet and and decked with green garlands. The liquid. It is essentially music of the pipes, orioles loved it, flashing here and there like the soft airs blown by lips of happy with rich red gold or flame-like orange children upon reeds cut from the brook- on breast and wings and soft, velvety side in the first joyous days of spring, but black on head and shoulders, splendidly it is different in its airy quality, as if a beautiful as some tropic flower, they melody, unfinished, were floating far chose the end of an oak bough to hang above our heads ! They are loving house- their pensile nest. The male oriole holders, and, if undisturbed, will return, shone in the sun, but his mate glowed year after year, to the same next, with a duller hue, an orange veiled with Happy is the Dryad that dwells in an gray, and mottled and spotted or splashed oak where the orioles build and sing ! Ella F. Mosby. 193 THE MARBLED GODWIT. (Limosafedoa.} —I behold The god wits running by the water edge, The mossy bridges mirrored as of old; The little curlews creeping from the sedge. -Jean Ingelow, "The Four Bridges." The Godwits form an interesting group of the shore birds (Limicola'e) and belong in the same family as the snipes and sand pipers. They command attention not alone because of their habits, but also because they have for centuries been considered a delicate food for man, and much has been written in praise of their flesh. Early in the sixteenth century one of the European species was rated as "worth three times as much as the snipe," and was considered a delicacy of the French epicure. We are told that the black- tailed Godwit in the year 1766 was sold in England for half-a-crown. Ben Jon- son speaks enthusiastically of this bird as a delicate morsel for the appetite. The origin of the name Godwit is veiled in obscurity. It has been sug gested that it may be a corruption of the two words good and the antiquated word- wight, the latter meaning swift, though the Godwits are not birds of very rapid flight. The Marbled Godwit belongs to a genus (Limosa) which, though not rich in the number of species, has representa tives throughout the Northern Hemis phere. This bird frequents muddy pools and marshes and wet, sandy shores. It is this habit that suggested to the natural ist the generic name, which is derived from the Latin word limosus, meaning muddy. As is the case with many of our game birds, this species bears a number of com mon names, such as the Straight-Billed Curlew, the Marbled or Brown Marlin, the Red Curlew and, among sportsmen, the Dough and the Doe Bird. With the exception of the long-billed curlew the Marbled Godwit is the larg est of the "Bay Birds." These two birds closely res-enable each other in coloration, but may be easily distinguished by the characteristics of the bills, which are very long. The terminal half of the bill of the curlew is curved downward, while that of the Godwit is either straight or slightly curved upward. The geographical distribution of the Marbled Godwit includes the whole of North America, though it is infrequent on the Atlantic coast. Its nesting range is chiefly limited to the interior from Iowa and Nebraska northward to the Saskatchewan. In winter it migrates to Central America, Cuba and the north ern part of South America. In company with the long-billed cur lew and some species of sandpipers it builds its nest on the grassy banks of rivers and ponds, usually in some natural depression. Occasionally, however, the nests are found on moist prairies some distance from a stream. In these grass- lined nests are laid the three or four bright olivaceous, drab or creamy buff eggs that are variously spotted or blotched with varying shades of brown. They are domestic and seemingly devoted to their fellows. When one of their number is wounded and unable to fly they will frequently remain in the vicinity, flying around the spot where lies their wounded comrade. Dr. Coues tells us that "on intru sion near the nest the birds mount in the air with loud, piercing cries, hovering slowly around with labored flight, in evi dent distress and approaching sometimes within a few feet of the observer/' Its food consists of the smaller 201 crustaceans, worms, snails, insects and on its domains — salt or fresh water their larvae. These are captured from shores, marshes or prairie lands — startles the surface of the water, on the shore or it to wing ; its loud, whistled notes sound are probed for, with the long, sensitive the alarm to other marlins hidden among bills, in the soft soil of the banks or un- the tall sedges, and the entire flock flies der shallow water. When feeding it off at an easy, steady pace, not rapid, yet moves in an easy and graceful manner, not to be overtaken afoot. A beautiful Its grace, and dignity well merit the say- posture, common to the plovers, cur ing that "it is one of the most beautiful lews, terns and some other birds, is struck of the birds sought by the sportsman. just as they alight. Raising the tips of Neltje Blanchan has very aptly de- the wings till they meet high above the scribed the habits of this bird. She says : back, the marlins suggest the favorite "It is not the intention of the Godwit to attitude of angels shown by the early give anyone a near view of either plum- Italian painters." age or bill. The most stealthy intruder A BIRD-JOKE AT LEAFY LAWN. In early spring Robin Redbreast re- pounding on the tin roof-drain," said turned to Leafy Lawn and selected a new Robin ; and Mrs. Robin looked about site for his nest in the same apple tree his curiously and spied M>rs. Woodpecker on father and grandfather had occupied dur- a near tree listening to her husband's ing preceding summers. No other birds wonderful drumming. Mrs. Woodpecker had yet arrived and Robin jumped about was thinking what a fine nest such a on the sprouting lawn master of all he strong husband could cut out and what surveyed. quantities of corn and nuts he could ham- He soon discovered to his sorrow that • mer into the bark of the trees for an extra those selfish, quarrelsome sparrows who food supply. In a very short time the tormented the birds last summer and woodpeckers selected the balm-of-Gilead drove away the wrens, had gone no far- tree by the gate for their home and the ther during the winter than to the eaves work began of cutting and tossing the of a near barn, and were already back to tiny shavings and so making a hole large their nest in the tall poplar, scolding and enough to accommodate Mrs. Wood- threatening as disagreeably as ever. But pecker while she sat over the ivory eggs Robin noticed that the limb which held waiting the day of their hatching, their nest so high was dead and he hoped Mr. Woodpecker was recognized as a strong wind would dash limb, nest and king of Leafy Lawn, perhaps because of ugly sparrows all to the ground. his lordly manner and fine clothes. He Robin looked very handsome in his always wore a jet black coat and white crimson vest, hopping over the grass in a satin vest, and what was queer on a king, scalloped path, with his modest little mate a large scarlet bonnet, following in a similar path beside him. A few days after the arrival of the Suddenly they stopped and listened. Woodpeckers, Robin saw Mr. Blue Jay "Surely that is Mr. Woodpecker making a circuitous route to the tall pine 202 and he knew the Jays had located there. Though Mr. Blue Jay .was always cau tious, trying to deceive every one con cerning the whereabouts of his home, he himself knew every other nest in the yard. So persistent was he in patrolling Leafy Lawn, jumping from tree to tree and from branch to branch, reporting his presence, and in case of danger threat ening, squawking so loudly and repeat edly, that it was agreed, as he already had a blue uniform, that he should be the po liceman for this precinct. There came a day early in the season when Mr. Woodpecker, , Robin Red breast and Mr. Blue Jay all asembled within speaking distance on the lower branches of a silver maple tree and excit edly discussed the arrival of a number of birds which they had heard early that morning but had been unable to find. "My wife," said Robin, "awakened me from the twig near her nest, where I us ually sleep and keep guard, and she said that one of our kin had arrived for she • had heard a voice exactly like mine from the plum tree. Hoping it was one of my brothers I searched eagerly until sunrise, and though I heard him twice I could not find him." Mr. Blue Jay was more excited than before and turned about, twitched his tail violently, scolded and sputtered that he had had just such an experience and he believed the sparrows had added witch craft to their other sins and were trying to hoodoo the birds of Leafy Lawn. A frightened sparrow overheard this accusation and came near enough to pro test that they were not guilty and had been themselves trying in vain to find their newly-arrived English relatives, whom they had believed they heard that morning. Mr. Woodpecker said it might be no personal affair of his as he had heard no drumming nor mocking of his song, but if Leafy Lawn were to be occupied by kildares, bobolinks, meadow larks and blackbirds he thought there would be scarce picking of worms, bugs or seeds for the old settlers who were the rightful possessors of these premises and it was a serious condition of things. In closing his pompous speech he shook his scarlet bonnet furiously, smoothed his waistcoat and jumped upon a higher limp and called off his "chit-it-it-it-it-it" so shrill and high that his companions were for the moment alarmed lest he should split his throat. But he stopped as suddenly as he had be gun, and upon the silence that followed the birds heard, as surely as they saw the blossoms on the apple trees, the song of the thrush. "It is undoubtedly a hobgoblin," hoarsely whispered Mr. Woodpecker, "for Mr. Blue Jay swore to me this morn ing that during the seasons he and his an cestors have patrolled this lawn never have they seen a thrush even alight here." It was decided that the three birds make one more immediate and thorough search for the monster hobgoblin which infested the Lawn. Imagine their chagrin when they saw tilting upon the unleaved twig of a late catalpa tree a modest little gray bird with keen, bright eyes, who commenced a gar ble of all their songs called off in such merriment that the birds could not but appreciate the sport. Then the stranger, who was no other than Mr. Cat-bird, a cousin to the brown mocking-bird of the south, gave a weird cry exactly like a cat's meow which so frightened the birds they flew hastily away to their several homes. Mr. Cat-bird was welcomed to Leafy Lawn, for his beautfful voice was an es teemed acquisition to the morning chorus, but he could not deceive the birds again with his imitative songs. Many a time, however, he would sit upon the corner of the house roof and perpetrate his joke on the boy in the hammock below, who thought he knew much about birds, but who could not un derstand why, when he heard so many different voices, there was only a little gray cat-bird within sight. Gertrude Southwick Kingsland. 203 THE RUSTY BLACKBIRD OR CRACKLE. (Scolecophagus carolinus.} Unlike the other blackbirds and our common orioles the Rusty Blackbird must not be sought in the orchards and fields of our farms and waysides, but in our forests and the heavily wooded banks of mountain streams and lakes. In such places this retiring bird passes the breeding season and raises its family in quiet solitude. It even seems to shun the company of its own kind and, unlike the red-winged blackbird, is seldom seen in large flocks. It is only in the spring that we may observe even small flocks from "whence issues a confused medley of whistles, sweeter and higher-pitched than the best efforts of the redwings." Captain Charles Ben-dire says : "The or dinary call note sounds like 'tehack, te- hack,' several times repeated; another like 'turnlee, turnlee, turnlee,' uttered in a clear tone and varied occasionally to 'trallahee, trallahee.' ' Few birds exhibit a more happy dis position. They seem always to be per fectly satisfied with their surroundings. One writer, quietly watching them, gath ered in the trees about him, says that "The wind whistled loudly through the branches above, but these lively fellows began a serenade so joyous and full of gleeful abandon that I lingered long to hear them. In singing they opened the bill widely and the throat swelled with melody. Their notes are rich, varied and energetic. They are almost con stantly in motion, chasing each other or flying from perch to perch, singing merri ly most of the time." The Rusty Blackbird has a wide range. It is more common in the east ern portion of North America from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico north ward to the northern limit of the forests. Westward, though constantly decreasing in numbers as the distance increases from the Atlantic coast, it is found as far as the great plains and very rarely on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. It frequents practically the whole forest area of British America from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Mr. E. W. Nel son says : "I found it abundant at the Yu kon mouth, where the widely extended areas of bush grown country offered suit able shelter and where it consequently nested in considerable numbers." Their nesting range covers the whole of British America, but in the United States it is restricted to a comparatively small area. Its nests have only been re ported as occurring in portions of New England and in the wild Adirondack for ests. In winter it makes its home in the Middle and Southern States. At this- time, from necessity, it is often seen around barn and stock yards, feeding on the grain that has been dropped by the cattle. During the summer season the Rusty Blackbird depends almost entirely on. animal life for its food, eating caterpil lars, moths and other insects, worms,, snails and spiders, also eating, to a lim ited extent, wild berries. The nest of the Rusty Blackbird is large and substantially constructed. It is generally placed in cone-bearing trees and is seldom more than ten feet from the ground. As a rule, trees growing in- swampy and rather inaccessible places are selected. The base of the nest "is principally composed of sphagnum moss and earth, forming a firm, hard platform on which the nest proper is built. This is thickly covered on the outside with small tamarack and spruce twigs, mixed with a few blades of grass, pieces of fern and long green moss, especially at the base. The inner cup is thickly and neat ly lined with fine bright green grass." These blackbirds are not quarrelsome and are devoted parents, both sexes assisting in the care of the young, which are able to leave the nest in about fifteen or six teen days. Our illustration shows the fall and winter plumage of the male. During the breeding season the plumage is a glossy bluish black. 204 FROM COL. CHI. ACAD SCIENCES. 1 RUSTY BLACKBIRD OR GRACKLE. (Scolecophagus carolinus). 'ZA Life-size COPYRIGHT 1901, BV . W. MUMFORO, CHICAGOi WHAT EVOLUTION MEANS. If any person devoted his time to the correction of popular errors, there is no probability that he would have any spare moments for eating or sleeping. The se rious aspect of the present condition of popular knowledge, however, is the ap parent absence of desire upon the part of many young people to grasp the princi ples of natural science. I am not exag gerating when I say that there are plenty of fairly educated persons in every large city who deny that man is an animal, and who insist that a whale must be a fish, be cause it lives in the sea. Everybody professes to be aware in a sort of unconscious way that the theory of Evolution was invented by Mr. Dar win, and patented by Mr. Spencer, the most important points in the doctrine be ing that all men are descended from mon keys which had lost their tails, that the fittest survived, and that there is a "miss ing link" between man and his ancestors. These ideas have little foundation in fact. Darwin no more discovered Evolu tion than Edison discovered electricity ; we are not descended from any existing ape, with or without a tail, and no compe tent person ever asserted that we were ; and there are good reasons for saying that such palaeontological "links" as are missing are not of the greatest possible importance. In short, whatever is evolu tionary in the popular mind, is a bur lesque upon the evolutionist's true opin ions. Charles Darwin was born in 1809, on the same day as Lincoln, but, long before Darwin's time, evolution had become a recognized force in science. Kant, who lived from 1724 to 1804, and Laplace (1749-1827) had worked out the develop ment of the sun and the planets from white-hot gas. Lyell (1797-1875) had worked out the evolution of the earth's surface to its present condition ; and La marck (1744-1829) had shown that there is evidence of the descent of all animals, as well as all plants, from a few ancestors by gradual modification. Again, Her bert Spencer, during Darwin's lifetime, began to work out the growth of mind from the most simple beginnings to the highest development of human thought. The philosophies of the ancients were all of them founded upon limited obser vation ; they were merely speculative fancy-pictures evolved from the author's own consciousness. Modern science, however, is of quite a different character. It has relegated certain fundamental propositions to a region called "the Un knowable" (this means at present un knowable), and it permits everybody to explain these propositions by means of any hypotheses which may occur to him. In other words, modern science does not deal with such phenomena as are at the present day outside the range of the hu man intellect ; and I venture to warn the reader that speculation concerning mat ters upon which wre have as yet no scien tific data is waste of time. Modern1 science is founded upon investigation and obser vation, and the evidence is1 always weigh ed as carefully and as impartially as are the statements of witnesses in a law court. One naturally asks : "What is Evolu tion ?" "Continuous change according to certain fixed laws," is a reply which may have some value, although it is quite in sufficient. A technical definition, given by Mr. Spencer, is as follows : "An integration of matter and con comitant dissipation of motion, during which the matter passes from an indefin ite, incoherent heterogeneity, to a defin ite, coherent homogeneity, and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation." Anybody who will think about this definition will be able to appreciate its meaning, provided a good dictionary is at hand. Evolution is not another word for. De velopment, and Mr. Spencer has care fully distinguished the one from the other ; but the details are too technical for notice in this paper. Evolution may be regarded as "a general term for the his tory of the steps by which any living be- 201 ing has acquired the morphological and given me to look beyond the abyss of physiological characters which distin- geologically recorded time, to the still guish it." Development is "the process more remote period when the earth was of differentiation by which the primitive- passing through chemical and physical ly similar parts of a living body become conditions which it can never see again, more and more unlike one another." Both I should expect to be a witness of the definitions are Huxley's. evolution of living protoplasm from non- The evolution of organic matter now living matter." claims attention in detail. Of the origin The first protoplasm must be extreme- of first life, we know absolutely nothing, ly ancient, for the remains of sea-weeds The doctrine of Evolution does not deal are found in the oldest strata, and vege- with that. There are, however, many hy- tation implies the manufacture of proto- potheses upon the subject. Lord Kelvin, plasm from inorganic matter, the eminent physicist, has suggested that When the earth was in the condition to unicellular life may have been transferred which Huxley referred, the constantly to this globe from a wrecked planet. This decreasing heat, and the recurrence of hypothesis obviously aids us very little, the seasons produced, by slow degree-;, for it merely transfers the original scene changes in the congenital character of the of action to some other world. Personal- forms of life. Every individual varied ly, I prefer the idea that the first proto- somewhat from its predecessors, and plasm was produced by the action of the those forms which possessed variations sun upon inorganic matter not unlike the most suitable to the environment were colloids', and that it "fed upon the pre- the ones which eventually survived. The vious steps in its own evolution." In this transition from the protophyta, the lowest connection, I may say that two points are class of vegetable life, to the protozoa, certain — viz., that vegetable life preceded the lowest class of animal life, must have animal life, and that the first forms of life been a very simple matter in the condition were mere specks of jelly, without or- in which the earth then was. Indeed, to- gans. Can these primitive specks be day the difference between the lowest mi- created at the present time? Or, in other croscopic animals and the lowest micro- words, can protoplasm be manufactured scopic plants is by no means clearly de- by artificial processes? The answer must fined. be No; not by any process now known, Innumerable hosts of life made their although a great number of experiments appearance upon our planet while the have been made with the object of manu- surface was going through the cooling facturing unicellular vegetable life. Dur- process, and they were, at first, of course, ing the years between 1870 and 1880, this of the most primitive kind. But the same question was thoroughly thrashed out, laws were always at work, viz., no two and at first the balance seemed to be very living things were exactly alike when evenly held between the supporters and they made their appearance upon this the opponents of spontaneous generation. earth, although the differences between The investigations of the late Professor several forms might be very slight. Varia- Tyndall, however, conclusively proved tion was, and is, the order of the day. that biogenesis, that is, all life from pre- The individuals which possessed varia- vious life, is the condition at the present tions in accordance with the environment day. But I must add Huxley's words of persisted, while those having injurious warning, viz,, "that with organic chemis- variations had a tendency to disappear. try, molecular physics, and physiology Congenital variations were (and are) yet in their infancy, and every day making transmitted with great certainty. This is prodigious strides, it would be the height Mr. Darwin's "Process of Natural Se- of presumption for any man to say that lection," called by Mr. Spencer "The Sur- the conditions under which matter as- vival of the Fittest." sumes the qualities called vital, may not The other Darwinian factor in evolu- some day be artificially brought togeth-. tion is Sexual Selection. It is that depart- er." And further, "that as a matter not ment of Natural Selection in which sex is of proof but of probability, if it were especially concerned. Anything which * 208 exhibits the prowess or beauty of the one sex attracts the other, and decides the preference for one individual over an other, with the result that those individ uals which are unattractive to the oppo site sex are unable to reproduce their kind. The importance of this factor will be appreciated if I give an extract from Darwin's ''Descent of Man" (Vol. II., p. 367). "For my own part," wrote our great master, "I conclude that of all the causes which have led to the differences in external appearance between the races of men, and to a great extent between man and the lower animals, sexual selec tion must have been by far the most effi cient." As I have already said, Darwin neither invented nor discovered the doctrine of Evolution. But he placed it upon a firm foundation by the discovery of the two great factors to which I have referred, and, by incessant observation and indom itable energy, he demonstrated the truth of them beyond any reasonable doubt. The proofs of the truth of Evolution are of two kinds — palaeontological and embryological. The palaeontological evi dence has found its way into popular books, and even into some of the literary newspapers. The history of the horses, of the crocodiles, of the rhinoceros is known in detail. All the stages have been found which intervene between the four-toed Eohippos of the Lower Eocene and the zebra and horse of the present day. Thanks to the late Professor Marsh, of Yale, not only are the successive steps in the evolution of the foot-structure pre served, but so also are the various stages in the evolution of the teeth. The occa sional appearance of a three-toed horse points very plainly to a three-toed pro genitor, a striking example of atavism, that is, the reappearance of a characteris tic which has ''skipped" one or more gen erations. If the principle of heredity be true, one would expect to find in the development of animals, and plants traces of the line of descent. "If Evolution be true, one ought to find, following back the develop ment of the egg, that specific details would vanish and give rise to more gen eralized features ; that the earlier the stages, the more the embryos of related forms would resemble each other." This is exactly what is found, there being, in a vast number of instances, a remarkable parallel between the palaeontological record and the embryological evidence. A detailed examination of the facts would not be intelligible to anybody who is not a practical biologist ; but I am fully war ranted in asserting that every organism in the course of its life-history (technical!} called ontogeny) is a recapitulation of the history of the race — technically known as phytogeny. There is other evidence in abundance. The phenomena named atavism is a part of that evidence. Almost everybody has seen well-defined and regular stripes upon horses, and nobody doubts that they indicate a zebra-like ancestor, Again, in the inner side of the human eye is a little red fold, known as the plica semilunaris, the remnant of an ancestor which possessed a third eyelid, similar to that possessed by some reptiles and birds of to-day. Who are the supporters of the doctrine of Evolution? Practically the whole scientific world. The late Professor Marsh, the distinguished palaeontologist, when president of the American Associa tion for the Advance of Science in 1878, said : "1 need offer no argument for Evolu tion, since to doubt evolution is to doubt science, and science is only another name for the truth." Professor Marsh meant, of course, not that evolution is to be taken "on trust," but that it has been so thor oughly proved that new arguments in support of it are unnecessary. Concerning Natural Selection, some- times' called Darwinism, the late Profes sor Huxley said (quotation from Dar win's "Life") : "I venture to affirm that so far as all my knowledge goes, all the in genuity and all the learning of the hostile critics have not enabled them to adduce a single fact of which it can be said this is irreconcilable with the Darwinian theory." I occasionally hear the old argument that species are immutable — that a spe cies is something which never changes. It seems a little late in the day to revive this contention, but it is necessary to be pre pared with a reply. The critics of Dar- 209 win's theory of "the Origin of Species by Natural Selection" have always refused to give a tangible definition of the word "species," and, as a result, the real diffi culty turns upon that point. What is a species ? Linnaeus said : "There are as many species as an infinite Being created at the beginning," a statement which is a confession of faith, and not a scientific definition. We must remember, of course, that Linnaeus died as long ago as 1778. The truth is that all the various tests for species have proved faulty, that of the fertility of hybrids having little more value than many of the other so- called "tests." In classification, the word "species" means the lowest subdi vision to which a name is usually applied, and to aid the zoologist's or botanist's memory, some system of classification is, I need not say, an absolute necessity. According to the view of the anti-evo lutionists, most of whom are not scientific men, descendants of a common ancestor must belong to the same species. Never theless, the late Mr. Romanes has shown that the rabbits of Porto Santo, an island in the Atlantic, about twenty-five miles from Madeira, descended from the Euro pean stock of nearly 500 years ago, will no longer breed with their continental cousins. When we remember that some wild animals will not breed in captivity, the idea of sterility as a test of species seems utterly unscientific. I venture to say that there can be no accurate definition ot species in terms of physiology, for every individual has its peculiarities, chemical as well as physical, and the real difHculty is to decide when these peculiarities are important enough to make it useful to give a precise name to their possessors. Assume for a moment that a species is a group of individuals agreeing in essential characters which remain constant from one generation to another. But what are essential characters and how much con stancy is demonstrated? Upon these points no two biologists are likely to agree. For example, taking the birds of Germany, Bechstein says there are 367 species ; Brehm says there are 900. Ac cording to Reichenbach there are ' 379, and Meyer and Wolf tell us there are 406. The idea of a species is based upon structural resemblances between individ uals, and the degree of importance at tached to these depends upon the mind of the particular observer. There arc two reasons why nobody has seen one species turn into another. The first is that until the word "species" is satisfactorily defined, instances of the evolution of new forms cannot be sup plied. Secondly, as nobody lives much beyond a hundred years at the most — a mere moment in Nature — our ability to witness marked changes in animals or plants is extremely limited. Minor changes, of course, are frequently no ticed. I ask the reader to remember, however, that the flower-garden and the farm-yard are in an artificial condition, Natural Selection having ceased. For instance, the duck which has defective wings when hatched has as good a chance of surviving as the duck with powerful wings. Who are the opponents of the doctrine of Evolution? In the scientific world they are difficult to find. Professor Vir- chow, of Berlin, the distinguished pathol ogist must, I think, be classed as one, al though his verdict is really "not proven." Professor Haeckel, however, has pointed out that the opinion of a pathologist, no matter how eminent, upon the subject of evolution cannot carry much weight. Until recently we had with us two men of science whose opposition to some por tion of the doctrine of evolution was of importance. These men were Sir Will iam Dawson, the Canadian geologist, and Mr. Mivart, the English anatomist. Both of these gentlemen have died within the past two years. Having now written a brief outline of the doctrine of Evolution, I believe that I cannot do better than conclude this very imperfect sketch with a quotation from the immortal Shakespeare : "The truth can never be confirmed enough. Though doubts did ever sleep." Lawrence Irvvell. 210 THE SURF SCOTER. (Oidemia perspicillata.) The Surf Scoter is also known by sev eral other popular names, such as the •Surf Duck, the Surf or Sea Coot and, not infrequently, the Booby. The name Vel vet Duck, though more commonly ap plied to the white-winged scoter, is also sometimes used to designate this species, This Scoter is an American species and is only an accidental visitor to Euro pean coasts. Its range includes the "coasts and larger inland waters of north ern North America ; in winter, south to Florida, to the Ohio River and to San Quentin Bay, Lower California." Our illustration is that of a male bird. The female is a sooty brown, silvery gray below and with much white on the sides of the head. Immense flocks of the young of this species winter on San Diego Bay, Cali fornia. Here the adult birds are of rather rare occurrence for they are able to with stand the rigors of an arctic winter and stay far to the northward where they are a common resident. In the vicinity of San Diego there was about one adult to every seventy-five or one hundred juven ile birds. The former may be easily dis tinguished by their very striking velvety black plumage, the white markings on the nape and forehead standing out in bold contrast. These white markings re mind one of the white bull's eye on a tar get. Because of this striking color char acteristic the Surf Scoter is frequently called the Target Head, by the California hunters. They are wary birds arid it is often nec essary to make a long detour in order to reach a spot near to a flock, without at tracting their attention, as they ride the crest of the waves in a heavy surf. The younger birds will remain in the surf so close to the shore that frequently they are cast high and dry upon the beach. When this happens it is very amusing to watch them awkwardly scramble back and enter the water again. The older birds are us ually much more shy, remaining far out on the water where they congregate in pairs, though sometimes there may be six or eight together. As the tides enter San Diego Bay they carry in the loose seaweeds in which are entangled numerous dead starfish and other forms of marine life. These form the principal food not only of the Scoters but also of all the water fowls, such as other species of ducks, the cormorant, the pelican and the beautiful California gull. The note of the Surf Scoter is to me the most pleasing of all the ducks. It is a soft, mellow whistle ending in a cluck ! cluck ! Mr. Nelson states that the Surf Scoter appears in the vicinity of St. Michaels, Alaska, about the middle of May and nests commonly in the marshes of the delta of the Yukon river. It also nests in large numbers on the Atlantic coast from Labrador northward. Dr. Cones1, speaking of these birds as he observed them in Labrador, says, "They are tough birds and remarkably tenacious of life and require a heavy charge to kill them. They are known as Bottle-nosed Coots, a name given in allu sion to the very peculiar shape and color of the bill." Its nest, usually placed on grassy knolls, in fresh-water marshes near the sea, is made of dried weeds and grasses and lined with the down of the bird. It is evident that the female performs all the duties of incubating the eggs and carry ing for the young, for during the nesting period large flocks are observable that consist entirely of males, constantly feed1- ing in their accustomed haunts. This ocean duck feeds "on small mol- lusks and fishes, for which it dives almost constantly, both in the sandy bays and amidst the tumbling surf, sometimes fish ing at the depth of several fathoms and floating buoyantly among the surf of the raging billows, where it seems as uncon cerned as if it were on the most tranquil waters." Frank M. Woodruff. 213 A BACK-YARD CLASS. The Farnum 's back-yard was some thing disagreeable. Still it didn't mat ter much, thought the children, as lone as the front yard was nicely kept and there was a high fence all around the back. Besides, Mr. Farnum was away from home traveling all the week ; Mrs. Farnum was so busy that she hardly ever saw the disreputable yard, and the chil dren, Rob, Lora and Baby Jim, liked best to play away from home. At last it dawned on the .mother's mind that they were hardly ever at home ex cept to eat and to sleep and to get ready to go away again and she began to worry about it and wonder what she should do. That very day Rob came running in to show a bug which he had in a bottle. It was such a queer looking specimen that all became interested in it at once. "I'll keep it till papa comes back, he'll be sure to know !" exclaimed Rob proudly. "But this is only Tuesday, my boy. You can't keep it in that bottle all the week without food or drink. It must not^be left to starve," Mrs. Farnum re plied. "We'll find it something to eat," cried the children, and off they ran. But this was not such an easy matter. Mr. Bug would not touch any of the back-yard "vegetables," as Rob called the variety of weeds that clung to the rot ten fence boards or matted the ground of the large garden. In spite of their ef forts the bug stuck to the corner of the bottle and refused to be comforted, with food, at least. At last, in despair, Rob ran to the drug store and asked what he could give the bug to "make it die a peaceful death." "Just put a layer of pyrethrum in the bottom of your bottle," answered the druggist, "keep it corked tight, and you can make every bug in your yard die happy. Pyrethum is a powder that is harmless to people (though of course you must not eat it), but the least smell of it kills insects." Rob went home delighted. "I'll make a collection of bugs, as Sam Ward does of butterflies," he declared. "I'd help you if it wasn't for those hor rid spiders," said Lora. "I'm afraid as death of them ever since I read about a baby dying from a spider-bite." "Pshaw ! Only a few spiders are pois onous, that is, I think so. Let's get a library book about them and find out ; then may be we'll have a spider collection.1 too," answered the practical brother. While Rob was getting his bottles ready in which to "electrocute" the bugs and Lora was going to the library after the books, Mrs. Farnum was rummaging in the attic. At last she came down bearing triumphantly aloft a big old- fashioned work-box. "This you may have for a specimen case," she said. "If you'll fit some little- drawers in it, Rob, I'll line them with scraps of velvet and have a glass top put on." The children set to work at once, and in vain the neighbors' children whistled for them on the other side of the high board fence. Lora took the hammock from the front lawn to swing beneath the old apple tree. But the tall weeds reached up to the hammock, so Rob had to go for the old scythe rusting in the fence corner and Baby Jim came drag ging a hoe with which to cut them down. Soon they had a large space cleared un der and around the apple trees, and when it was carefully raked and swept they ran in to beg their mother for some porch chairs for their "summer parlor." Then Rob made for himself a camp- stool that he could carry around and plant among the bushes where he would sit watching for certain bugs to appear and trying to catch them in his bottle. Such patience as it took at first ! And how little Rob had of it ! But Lora read lon^, interesting chapters to him out of "The Insect World," and the specimen case grew so fast and became so fasci nating that he found the patience quite worth while. Whatever Rob did, of course, Baby Jim wanted to do. "The ant-hill's mine ! I 'scoverecl it !" he announced at supper one evening. "I'll make a fence wound it to keep the 214 wolves out, and I'll have the ants for my sheepses." Mrs. Farnum did not look as pleased as the rest. "I don't want the ants crawling all over you/' she said. "No, they won't ; I'll take my red chair out and sit on it, like Rob does," he answered, solemnly. The next day he set to work to build a big circular fence around his ant hill, working as perseveringly as ever any real shepherd did to get his fold ready, and accepting no help from Rob except allowing him to shave up a board to fur nish the "palings." Then, day after day, while Lora swung in the hammock reading aloud to Rob, little Jim sat perched on his red chair herding his ant-flock. "I feed them and they eat, but they never drink a tiny bit," he said. "The ants find their drink away down in the ground, dear/' replied his mother. "Xow tell me what you have learned about your sheep." "I learned a greedy lesson to-day," said Baby Jim. "One ant had some food and he met an ant who hadn't any, and he-divided; then he went on some more and met another ant with not any, and he told him to come over to my chair- leg where the cookie was." The family all laughed, and still more at Rob, who asked, "Is Jim going to be an ant-hropologist, papa?" "Perhaps," answered Mr. Farnum. "Now, children, I have something nice to tell you. I have hired a man to come and help us improve the back-yard. He will cut the weeds and trim up the trees and bushes, and we can plan the walks and flower-beds for next spring." "How lovely !" cried Lora. "I don't know about that," said Rob, with an ugly pucker in his forehead. "It will scare all my bugs away. They like weeds and dirty peaces." "Yes," admitted his papa, "but next spring you will have to go to the woods for new specimens." "It won't scare my specimens away," laughed Lora. "I've been studying birds lately. You see when I become tired of reading I just lie back in the hammock and watch the birds in the tree-tops. They are so very smart, and they do the queerest things !" So the plan to improve the yard suited all but Baby Jim, who wailed long and loud because his ant city would be de stroyed. In vain did the family try to comfort him. He could not be per suaded to abandon his flock. That night, to Jim's distress, a cold rainfall set in. "My sheeps will all be dwounded," he wailed ! "I meant to make a 'bwella over them !" "Look here," said Lora, drawing him up to the sofa beside her. "This is the picture of the inside of an ant-hill. Here is the top door where you see the ants go in, then they go down to this large room, then sideways to this one, then down, down, down." Baby Jim's eyes opened very wide. He seized the book and studied the draw ing long and earnestly. "Your sheep are all down in the rooms now, having a nice Sunday, I think," con tinued Lora. "When winter comes and the snow is all over the ground they won't come up at all. Haven't you seen them carrying food in to pile up in one of their rooms ?" "O, and my cookies are all down there!" he cried in great delight. When the man appeared in the morn ing Baby Jim marched out with an air of importance, and, after surveying the deserted ant-hill, he turned to the man and said, "My sheeps are all gone into the house to bed, so you can clean "up their meadow if you want to." And thus it was that the Farnum chil dren began a study which will interest them as long as they live. There is no longer any need to worry about their liv ing at the neighbors ; and at last the Farnum back-yard has become not only respectable, but actually a "thing of beauty and joy forever." Lee McCrae. 215 THE AMERICAN ELK OR WAPITI. (Cervus canadensis.} Centuries ago, before Columbus sailed The name Wapiti is of Indian origin, the unknown seas which divided him and in their language is used to desig- from the New World of his dreams and nate a Rock Mountain goat. The name ambitions, before the birth of De Soto, elk so commonly applied to this animal that adventurer whose discoveries and should properly be limited to the moose, conquests were to unfold to the Old The Wapiti is closely related and be- World the mysteries and fascinations of longs to the same genus as the famous the new land, through the virgin forest stag or red deer (Cervus elaphas) of and over the broad plains as yet unknown Europe. This animal, which is smaller to the white race, roamed many animals than the Wapiti, inhabits the forests of which were widely distributed through- mountainous regions, out North America. In both the Wapiti and the stag the They fearlessly sought those localities senses of sight, hearing and smell are which would furnish them the most well developed. They will detect a abundant supply of food and water. Un- human being or other animal when some molested except by their natural enemies, distance away. Though their acute they multiplied and lived a free and un- senses protect them, they are said to have trammeled life. poor memories as well as weak powers In these early times the Wapiti or the of comprehension. The Wapiti when American Elk, as it is commonly though listening raises its head and throws for- erroneously called, was probably the most ward its erected ears. When entering widely distributed quadruped in North the forest it will examine the surround- America. Its range extended from the ing open country and sniff the wind, northern part of Mexico northward to seeking possible danger. Hudson's Bay and from the Atlantic to The antlers of both Wapiti and stag the Pacific Ocean. At the present time, are much alike, though those of the however, but a few wild individuals are former are longer and heavier, corre- left in the United States east of the Mis- spending to its larger size. The full sissippi and lower Missouri Rivers, growth of the horns is attained about the They are occasionally met with in the seventh year. The perfect horns are wilder regions bordering Lake Superior, slightly oval in transverse section and and it is reported that they are still living thickly covered with warts or slight ele- in the mountainous regions of Pennsyl- vations, which are arranged in longitudi- vania and Virginia. The advance of nal lines. All the branches or prongs civilization, causing the cultivation of are situated on the front side of the main thfe lands and the destruction of the for- trunk. "The general color is a light ests, has gradually driven this noble ani- chestnut red, which deepens into a mal to the westward and into the wilds brownish hue on the neck and legs and of British America. In the states bor- almost into a black on the throat and dering the Pacific Ocean and along the along the median line of the under sur- western tributaries of the Mississippi face of the body. The buttocks are yel- and the Missouri rivers it is still quite lowish white, bordered by a dusky band common. One writer tells us that "in which extends down the posterior surface the rich pasture lands of the San Joaquin of the hind legs." In winter the fur is and Sacramento it formerly was to be much thicker and finer and the general seen in immense droves and with the an- color is more gray than in summer, telope, the black-tailed deer, the wild cat- "During the mating season the males tie and mustangs covered those plains have fierce combats, and at this time the with herds rivalling those of the bison male Wapiti emits a peculiar noise, re- east of the mountains or of the antelope in sembling the braying of an ass, beginning South Africa." with a loud shrill tone and ending in a ' 216 deep guttural note." At this time, even when kept in confinement, the male is easily irritated and may attack people. Old males will frequently wage persistent and long battles for supremacy. The antlers are used as the weapons in these duels, and cases have been recorded where these have become so firmly inter locked that they could not be separated, resulting in the death of both individuals. When food is plentiful and the Wapiti is not constantly disturbed, it will re main in the same region, only straying away during the mating season. They assemble in herds of a greater or less number of individuals. The females and fawns usually remain together ; the older females without fawns form another herd and the old males, as a rule, lead a more or less solitary life, except during the mating season. The Wapiti is more common in low grounds in the vicinity of marshes and well wooded tracts, where it feeds on grasses and the young branches and leaves of the willows and allied trees. The Wapiti is graceful and proud in its bearing and very light in its move ments. This is especially true of the male, which may be described as an ani mal of "noble carriage." When mov ing from place to place it walks rapidly and runs with remarkable swiftness. A FRIENDLY FIELD MOUSE. Many stories have been told in the past, tending to show that wild animals when in trouble will display surprising confi dence in man, in fact will often seek his assistance when sore beset. The writer, when a boy upon a farm in Minnesota, had an experience with a field mouse which prettily illustrates this trait in wild creatures. It was stacking time and the men were all busy in the fields lifting the shocks of cured grain and stacking them in hive-shaped stacks in the barnyard. The writer, a barefoot boy at that time, had been following the wagons in the field all the morning in a vain endeavor to capture some field mice to take home as pets. He had seen a number of the drab little creatures with their short tails, but had failed to lay his hands upon any of Lthem, owing to the thick stubble and the 'imbleness of the mice. At last, as a par- tcularly large shock was lifted, a broken was disclosed and the youthful ^user was put upon the qui vive by the Lider squeaks of seven or eight hairless ' little beings that were so young as not to have opened their eyes as yet. The moth er disappeared with a whisk, whereupon the young hunter sat down in a critical attitude beside the nest and began to ex amine his find. He had already put one of the young mice in his trousers pocket when the mother reappeared out of the stubble beside the nest. The boy held his breath and awaited developments. Much to his surprise, the mouse-mother, after carefully examining the ruined nest, en tered his pocket, which, as he sat, opened very near to the nest. She seemed to come to the conclusion very quickly that her lost little one had found a very good home, and in about two minutes had transferred the remainder of her offspring from the nest to the pocket, carrying them one at a time in her mouth. The writer has had many varied expe riences with wild animals, but none of them impressed him so strongly as the episode of the .mouse-mother in the wheat stubble. J. Clyde Hayden. 219 THE OPENING OF WINTER BUDS. In our cold temperate zone spring means chiefly the changing of the trees from their naked winter condition to the beautiful green leafy appearance of early summer. When stripped of their foliage, trees present to the observant eye a great variety of form. The tall, slender poplar can easily be distinguished from the spreading elm as far as it is seen ; as, also, can the rough-barked hickory, with its clinging strips of bark, from the smooth beech. Usually, the opening of buds seems to take place almost in a single night, but they really open very gradually. Now, these buds are all formed the summer be fore, but they are so small that they are scarcely noticed in the midst of the many leaves. In the winter, however, they are readily seen ; and,, then, when the first warm rains fall in the spring they start to swell, and gradually grow larger until, suddenly, they burst through their snug winter coats, and show the tiny, green leaves that have been concealed in the thick, dark, outer covering. The buckeye bud is one of the largest of the winter buds. It is covered with small, pointed, brown scales, which over lap each other, thus keeping the cold from the more delicate parts within. Un derneath these hard outer scales are thin ner, half-transparent ones. Their color is a delicate pink, and fine veins line them. Snugly wrapped inside these daintv coats are tiny woolly objects, and when the wool is removed they are found to be miniature leaves folded together so compactly that they occupy very little room. If the bud has grown on the end of the twig a very small flower bud will be enclosed within the leaves ; but if it has grown on the side there will be no flower bud. Since these leaves and flowers have all been formed the summer before, it is easy to under stand that a few warm days will cause them to grow so that they soon become too large for their winter covering, and suddenly burst it open. The trees are forced into a period of inactivity by the cold, so, if a twig is broken off, and placed in moderately warm water, in a warm, light place, the buds on it will open just as they do in the spring and their development may be easily watched. Often a tree will have a countless num ber of buds ; and since growing buds need much light and nourishment only the stronger ones will grow, the weaker ones remaining in a resting state. These rest ing buds are called dorm-ant buds, the word dormant coming from the Latin word "dormio," which means "to sleep." The buds often continue in this dormant state for several years, becoming weaker and weaker all the time, until finally they die. If, however, the stronger buds are killed at any time, as by a late frost, the dormant ones suddenly become active, and grow to take the place of the ones that were destroyed. This shows us how cleverly trees provide substitutes for cases of emergency. These dormant buds then might even be compared to the understudies of the stage. The regular places for buds- to grow are in the axes of the leaves or on the end of the twigs. Buds, however, can be made to grow on unusual places. If the tops of the tree are cut off, as we often see them in the maple, buds will grow on the trunks. Then, if trees are cut down or blown over, buds will grow on the stumps or from the roots. Thus, we can see by watching the for mation and development of buds, and the growth of branches, that trees follow cer tain fixed laws of nature, modifying these laws only on account of some peculiar ex ternal conditions as, for example, nour ishment, light, heat or moisture. Roberta Irvine Brotherson. 220 THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main, The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea maids rise to sun their streaming hair. Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl! Wrecked is the ship of pearl! And every chambered cell, Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell, Before thee lies revealed,- Its irised ceiling- rent, its sunless crypt unsealed! Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous coil; Still, as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new, Stole with soft step his shining archway through, Built up its idle door, Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, Child of the wandering sea, Cast from her lap, forlorn! From thy dead lips a clearer note is born, Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn! While on mine ear it rings, Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul* As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! Oliver Wendell Holmes. THE NAUTILUS AND OTHER CEPHALOPODS. The highest group of mollusks belongs Octopus, Squid, Nautilus, Paper-nautilus to the class Cephalopoda, which signifies and Devil-fish. In this class, also, the head-footed, the name being given to majority of the shelled species are ex- them because the head is surrounded by tinct, only a few living at the present time, a circle of eight or ten arms-, which act The Ammonite is an example of the ex- both as arms and feet. Let us take as an tinct cephalopods. example of this class the common squid The most familiar member of this class of the Atlantic coast (Ommastrephes il- to the layman is the Pearly Nautilus, the lecebrosa), and see how it is formed. The shell of which may be found on the man- body is long and cylindrical and ends at tel shelf or what-not of very many dwell- the tail in a point; the dorsal side of the ings. The shell of the Nautilus is formed tail end has a pair of triangular fins. The in a spiral and is made up of many cham- body is practically a hollow cylinder or bers, all connected by a tube called a si- sac which contains the vital organs of the phuncle, the outer chamber containing animal. The neck is in many genera fas- the animal and hence called the living tened to this cylinder or mantle by an chamber. The shell is called the "Pearly apparatus which may be likened to a but- Nautilus," but the pearly tints cannot be ton and button-hole. The head is round- seen until the outer layer — which is yel- ed, has on either side the large, round lowish-white with brown markings — is eyes, and at the end it is split up into ten taken off, when the exquisite, rainbow- arms, two of which are longer than the like colors may be observed. others and are called the tentacular arms. While the shell of Nautilus is well On the inner side, the arms are provided known the animal is very rare in our mu- with two rows of suckers, which are little, seums, although the natives of the Fiji rounded cups placed on pedicels or stems Islands, New Hebrides and New Caledo- and which form a vacuum when they nia are able to obtain it in large quanti- touch an object and so cling to it. The ties for food and it is highly esteemed by two long arms are expanded and club- them. During the voyage of H. M. S. shaped at the end, each club being armed Challenger around the world, a living with four rows of suckers. Directly in Nautilus was captured by dredging in the center of the circle of arms the mouth some three hundred and twenty fathoms is placed and is provided with two sharp near Mateeka Island, one of the Fiji beaks like those of a parrot, only invert- group. This was placed in a tub and it ed. In addition to these organs there is a swam about in a lively manner by eject- large siphon or tube on the ventral side, ing water from its funnel. The tentacles,, which is really an organ of locomotion, of which there are a larger number than for it expels water from the mantle cavity in the other cephalopods, were spread out with great force, thus rapidly sending the radially, like those of the sea anemone, animal backward, its usual direction of The Nautilus lives among the coral reefs,, propulsion. The body has no shell for at depths varying from three to three protection, but in its place there is a long hundred fathoms or more, rod called a pen, which acts as a back- The Fijian's method of capturing the bone to support the bodry of the animal, Nautilus for food is thus described (Try- although of course not in the same sense on, — Structural and Systematic Conchol- as the backbone of vertebrated animals, ogy) : "When the water is smooth so that In some cephalopods this pen is hard and the bottom, at several fathoms' depth, near stiff but in Ommastrephes it is thin and the border of the reef, may be distinctly soft. Such is1 the general form of a cepha- seen, the fisherman in his little, frail' lopod, familiar names of which are the canoe scrutinizes the sands and the coral. masses below, to discover the animal in ceedingly rare. The natural position of its favorite haunts. The experienced eye the female is with its arms spread out and of the native may probably encounter it hanging about the shell, four in front and in its usual position, clinging to some four behind, the two broad aTms support- prominent ledge, with the shell turned ing the shell being spread out and closely downwards. The tackle consists first, of embracing the latter. The siphon is a large, round, wicker-work basket, turned toward the ridged part of the shell shaped very much like a cage rat-trap, and the animal progresses in a backward having an opening above, with a circlet of direction by forcibly ejecting water points directed inward, so as to permit of through this organ. It crawls with the entry but to preclude escape ; secondly, a shell on its back, like a snail, rough piece of rope of sufficient length to The poets have given us many beauti- reach the bottom ; and lastly, a small ful writings detailing the vices and virtues piece of branched wood, with the of the lower forms of life and among these branches sharpened to form a sort of the Pearly Nautilus and Paper Sailor grapnel, to which a perforated stone is at- have received a goodly share of the tached, answering the purpose of a sink- muse's attention. But, alas ! for the poet, er. The basket is now weighted with who, not being a conchologist, has sadly stones, well baited with boiled cray-fish misused and misjudged these helpless and (the principal food of the Nautilus is harmless creatures. Thus we are told crabs of different species), and then how the paper nautilus sails over the dropped gently down near the victim, ocean with his "sails" (meaning the two The trap is now either closely watched or expanded arms) spread out to catch the a mark is placed upon the spot, and the breeze, and how, when the storm ap- fisherman pursues his avocation upon proaches, it folds its sails and disappears other parts of the reef until a certain beneath the waters of the ocean. Alas period has elapsed, when he returns and for the poet ! he puts the most beautiful in all probability finds the Nautilus in his ideas together in verse, ideas and themes cage, feeding upon the bait. The grap- which we would fain believe; but along nel is now carefully let down, and having comes cold, calculating science, and at entered the basket through the opening one fell stroke sweeps away all that the on top, a dextrous movement of the hand poet has done, for in the poem on the Ar- fixes one or more of the points or hooks gonaut all is wrong, the animal does not and the prize is safely hoisted into the and could not sail, for were it to do so canoe." the shell would fall and become lost in The animal is made into soup by some the bottom of the ocean, of the natives while others boil it in a pot. A mollusk whose shell is cast upon the The shells are used by the natives to shore by thousands, but the animal of make beautifully carved figures, the con- which is very rare, is the Spirula. The trast of the dark outer coating against the shell is less than an inch in diameter, is light, pearly, inner coating producing a made in the form of a loose spiral and is striking effect. The shell is also used in divided into little chambers connected by England and on the Continent to produce a siphuncle. The shell of this genus does elegant cameos. not contain the animal, as in Nautilus, but The Argonaut," or "Paper Sailor," is it is enveloped in two flaps of the mantle, no less beautiful and interesting than the at the posterior part of the animal, the Pearly Nautilus. The thin and fragile shell being concealed with the exception shell cannot be compared with that of the of a part of the edge on each side. The Nautilus nor with the pen, or internal body of the animal is long and cylindrical support, of the squid, for it is attached to and the arms are quite short, more near- the animal by no muscles, and is only kept ly resembling those of the Nautilus than in position by the broad webs on the up- those of the Octopus or squid. The body per arms of the female (which alone pos- ends in a disk which is supposed to be a sesses a shell), its function being simply kind of sucker, by which the animal can to protect the eggs. The male is very adhere to rocks, thus enabling it to freely much smaller than the female and is ex- use its arms in obtaining food. It has 225 been supposed by some anatomists that quickly plunges it into the soft mass. In- the shells of the fossil Ammonites were stantly the water is in commotion, the attached to the animal in a similar man- eight long arms writhing about in an en- ner, and if this should be true these small deavor to reach the boat. The Indian mollusks would assume a new meaning knows that should this happen his as being the last survivors of a large chances for life would be slim indeed. But group of animals of which all except he is prepared, and carefully lifting up the Spirula are extinct. octopus with his barbed spear until it is Probably the best known of the shell- above the surface of the water, he plunges less cephalopods is the octopus, with its a long, sharp spear, with which he is pro- rounded body, large eyes and long arms, vided, into each arm where it joins the Almost everybody has read Victor body. At each plunge of the spear, an Hugo's weird account of the octopus in arm becomes helpless and in a short lime his "Toilers of the Sea," and the animal the animal, which but a few moments be- has thus been rendered more or less fa- fore had the power of a score of men, lies iniliar, although it was made to do sev- in the canoe, a shapeless, helpless mass, eral things by the author that it would That the octopus is good eating the not do in nature, as, for example, "drink- writer can attest from experience, for ing" a man alive. The Octopus is found during a visit to Yucatan some years ago abundantly throughout temperate and this mollusk was served as a meat dish tropical seas, generally on the coast and was very palatable, the flesh being among rocks, but frequently on the sandy firm and tender and much resembling bottom in water of moderate depth. Here chicken. The portion which fell to the it may occasionally be seen "walking" writer was the head, with a part of the clumsily along on its eight long arms, its arms attached. little round body being balanced above One of the most interesting chaiacter- the arms. Its favorite position, however, istics of theOctopi and allied cephalopods is among the rocks. In such a locality is their facility for changing color when it will squeeze its body into some crevice danger is near. These changes are caused and spread out its arms until they form a by little pigment cells just beneath the sort of web, resembling in this position a skin, which expand and contract. Thus, huge spider waiting for its prey. And it if a person is looking at an octopus in may well be likened to a spider for from captivity and the animal is so placed that this web there is no escape if once a hap- it .cannot escape, the observer will be as- less fish has come in contact with the tonished to see the body, of the animal powerful suckers on the long arms. The suddenly assume a deep pinkish color poor fish is paralyzed when seized by the which in turn is succeeded by a olue and octopus and is drawn towards the mouth, then by a green, and finally a return to where it is torn to pieces by the beak-like pink. The body is covered with these lit- jaws. and swallowed. tie pigment cells, the different colors- Like many of the mollusks of which pink, blue and green — being so evenly we have written the octopus is esteemed scattered over the surface than when each as a valuable article of food by several color cell is expanded the whole body as- savage tribes as well as by some civilized sumes that tinge. This is one of the most people. The native of the Pacific coast wonderful characteristics of the Mol- catches the Octopus (Octopus punctatus) lusca. by a very ingenious method. Providing Another cephalopod closely related to himself with a spear twelve or fourteen the Octopus is the Squid, several species feet long which has four or five barbed of which are found on the Atlantic coast pieces of hard wood some fourteen inches of the United States. In this genus the long attached to the end, he paddles his body is long and cylindrical, ends in two canoe to the feeding-ground of the mol- fins, has a prominent head terminating in lusk. One is soon found in ten or twelve eight short and two long arms and is sup- feet of water and the Indian carefully lets ported by a long, cartilaginous, internal down his spear until within a few inches pen, which is made up of a central shaft of the center of the animal, when he with expansions on each side like a quill, 226 hence the name "pen." These animals are in boats, light a large torch in each boat very numerous in individuals and form a and slowly row toward the shore, driving large part of the food of fishes, like the the squid, which of course swim back- blue-fish, black bass, etc., and have even ward in an opposite direction from the been found in the stomach of jelly-fishes, light, upon the beach, where they may be Besides being eaten by the fish the squid gathered by thousands after such an ex- furnishes a large part of the food of some pedition. Another method of capture is whales, the former occurring frequently by jigging; the jig is made of a piece of in shoals and falling ready victims to the lead some two inches in length which is huge monster. armed with a circle of sharp, unbarbed In Norway and Sweden the people wires pointing upward and curving out- have a legend of a peculiar sea-monster, ward. The process of jigging is accom- called the Kraken, which was probably plished as follows : the jig is attached to founded on some of the enormous squids twelve or fifteen feet of stout line and is discovered during the past thirty years, lowered into the water, which is generally Many of these mollusks are found off the chosen of a depth of ten feet from the side coasts of Norway, Scotland and Ireland, of a small boat. When near the bottom it and not a few have been recorded from is kept moving slowly up and down until the coasts of Nova Scotia and New En- a squid is felt upon it, when it is suddenly gland. In the larger of these animals the drawn to the surface with the squid at- body is eight or ten feet long, the short tached. These squid, when caught, are arms eight feet and the long, tentacular used for bait, a single fishing smack be- arms thirty feet in length, making in all ing known to use as many as eighty thou- an animal nearly forty feet long when sand squids in a single season, fully stretched out ! The squid is greatly A familiar object to most canary-bird prized as bait and frequently a royal bat- fanciers is the cuttle-bone placed in the tie will take place between one of these cages of these birds for them to sharpen gigantic creatures and a boat's crew. Sad their beaks upon. This "cuttle-bone" is indeed is the fate of the latter if j:he mol- the internal support of the Cuttle-fish lusk once gets a firm hold of the boat. (Sepia officinalis) and is homologous with Care is used, however, to guard against the pen of the squid, mentioned above, such a result, and the animal is gradually The animal of Sepia is short and rounded, deprived of its strength by making a sud- with a large head surrounded by a row of den dash, cutting off an arm and as quick- eight short arms and two very long ten- ly retreating. These large squids are not tacular arms, ending in expanded clubs as'common as the smaller ones and they armed with powerful suckers. Like the are rarely captured. Octopus and Squid, the Cuttle-fish is ca- An ingenious method of capturing a pable of many changes of colors by the species of the smaller squids (Ommastre- contraction and expansion of its pig- pries illecebrosa) in use by the fishermen ment cells. They are found throughout of the New England coast is as follows : the world, living near the shore, but the The squid has the habit of swimming in species found about European shores are an opposite direction to a light, as the the best known, full moon, so the fishermen go out to sea Frank Collins Baker. God made all the creatures and gave them Our love and our fear, To give sign we and they are His children, One family here. — Robert Browning. 227 THE TRAILING ARBUTUS. (Epigaea Many years ago, before the May- that it follows closely in the footsteps flower had cast anchor in Plymouth of spring, often pushing up its dainty Bay or Columbus had landed at San blossoms through the leaves and snow. Salvador, an aged indian sat shivering It is always known as the Mayflower in his wigwam. Vainly had he sought throughout New England and the old for fuel and in his extremity he called story of its being Flora's first offering upon the Great Spirit, that he might to the ocean-tossed pilgrims as they not perish with the cold. Crouch- landed at Plymouth, in appreciation of ing over the dying embers of his fire which they named it the Mayflower in he stoically awaited the end, when memory of their vessel, has endeared suddenly there appeared before him a the beautiful plant to every New Eng- beautiful maiden wreathed with wild land heart and has caused it to be flowers and carrying in her hands, placed in Cupid's keeping, along with buds of the willow. Ferns and grasses the Scotch blue bell, the German corn draped her form and her moccasins flower and the Swiss edelweiss, were fashioned from pure white lilies. The Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea When she breathed the landscape sud- repens) belongs to the Heath family or denly blossomed with the thousand Ericaceae and constitutes the only spe- hues of nature and the warm rains fell cies of the genus. Like the partridge in obedience to her will. berry which is often associated with it Under the influence of this spirit of in pine woods and sandy soils, it is still the springtime the aged red man in a state of transition, although it has slumbered and, as his head sank upon been developing for centuries. As a his breast, the sunshine came out in all rule, plants have the stamens and its splendor and a blue bird alighted pistils in the same blossom or part in upon the top of the wigwam. Slowly one and part in another. The May- the maiden passed her hand above the flower, however, does not carry out this old indian and gradually he shrank arrangement. Either the anthers or away until nothing remained but a the stigmas are abortive or partially cluster of green leaves. Then taking so, or in other words, the perfect stig- from her bosom a cluster of rosy bios- mas are usually associated with abor- soms, she concealed them among the tive anthers and vice versa. In this leaves, bestowing upon them her own manner, nature has wisely provided for sweetness and fragrance and telling cross fertilization which is accomplished them that as the harbingers of spring, largely by insects, as the structure of all who would inhale their fragrance, the plant is not adapted to wind fer- must bow the knee in honor of the tilization. The chosen agents for this vernal goddess. The maiden then process are honey bees, and a few early passed away through the woods and moths and butterflies, to which the over the prairies and wherever her foot- nectar is served by this beautiful Hebe steps lingered, there grows today the of the spring and who carry the pollen sweet-breathed mayflower. from one flower to another. Whether or not this fanciful story A wise provision of nature has been relates the real origin of the Trailing pointed out whereby ants are kept away Arbutus, Ground Laurel or Mayflower, from the nectar which they would de- as it is variously called in different sec- vour without accomplishing the pur- tions of the country, the fact remains poses for which it was created. Every 228 rocky hillside on which the Trailing Arbutus is frequently found, swarms with ants which are debarred from the blossoms by hairs which project upward from the inner surfaces of the corolla and the outer surfaces of the ovary and style and effectually prevent the ants from entering but are not sufficiently rigid to keep out the larger insects. As a rule, the pollen bearing flowers are larger and whiter than the others. The stigma bearing blossoms, while small, more than offset their defect by a rosy color which makes the flowers far more attractive than their larger but paler rivals. Very little success has been achieved in domesticating the Trailing Arbutus. It is essentially a wild creature and prefers to waste its fragrance on the desert air. Success may be had, how ever, if the conditions under which the plants are found growing are preserved as nearly as possible. Yearling plants should be selected and plenty of roots taken or results can be obtained from planting seeds, but as these are diffi cult to obtain, the other method is the more satisfactory. Charles S. Raddin. TRAILING ARBUTUS. Ah, quite alone these April days It blossoms to evoke my praise; And hyacinthine scents are shed To bless and cheer me, hither led. Upon this sheltered, upland knoll, At early dawn I often stroll; White clusters edged with crimson hue Lie here, impearled with crystal dew. The leaves, like memories, evergreen, The blooms, like truth, of purest sheen; The cup within, like some fair breast Where holy thoughts can surely rest. How worthy of its meek renown! Delightful gem for beauty's crown. O'er it with joy can poet brood; It breathes of God in solitude. —George Bancroft Griffith, 231 THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL. {Kalmia latifolia.} About the middle of the eighteenth century an enthusiastic botanist and col lector, Peter Kalm, gathered specimens in America of a beautiful plant which he carried back to the gardens of Europe and also to his preceptor, the naturalist Linnaeus. In the year 1753 Linnaeus named the plant, honoring his pupil by giving to the plant the generic name Kal mia. He also gave it the specific name latifolia, referring to its broad leaves. The genus Kalmia includes six known species, five of which are natives of east ern North America and one a native of Cuba. They are all beautiful shrubs, varying in height from a few inches to several feet. The plant of our illustration is a native of the eastern portion of the United States, where it grows in sandy or rocky woods and is more abundant in moun tainous regions. This shrub, which grows to a maximum height of twenty feet, is a superb object early in June, when it is covered with corymbs of rather large pink or pinkish-white flowers and numerous evergreen leaves. Easily cultivated and highly orna mental, it has been introduced into the greenhouses and gardens of this and European countries. In spite of the beauty of this plant, it has a bad reputation, for its leaves are. narcotic and poisonous to some animals. "Even the intelligent grouse, hard pressed with hunger when deep snow cov ers much of their chosen food, are some times found dead and their crops dis tended by these leaves." We cannot show the characteristics of this plant in any better way than to quote from "Nature's Garden," where we find the following passage : "All the Kalmias resort to a most in genious device for compelling insect visi tors to carry their pollen from blossom to blossom. A newly opened flower has its stigma erected where the incom ing bee must leave on its sticky surface the four minute orange-like grains car ried from the anther of another flower on the hairy underside of her body. Now, each anther is tucked away in one of the ten little pockets of the saucer- shaped blossom and the elastic filaments are strained upward like a bow. After hovering above the nectary, the bee has only to descend towards it, when her leg, touching against one of the hair-trig gers of the spring trap, pop ! goes the lit tle anther-gun, discharging pollen from its bores as it flies upward. So deli cately is the mechanism adjusted, the slightest jar or rough handling releases the anthers; but, on the other hand, should insects be excluded by a net stretched over the plant, the flowers will fall off and wither without firing off their pollen-charged guns. At least this is true in the great majority of tests. As in the case of hot-house flowers, no fertile seed is set when nets keep away the laurel's benefactors." Many of our readers reside near the home of the Mountain Laurel and can examine the interesting features of this beautiful plant in Nature's own garden. Those that do this will be well repaid. Violets stir and arbutus waits, Claytonia's rosy bells unfold; Dandelion through the meadow makes A royal road, with seals of gold. —Helen Hunt Jackson. 232 10 CEHLER'S MEOICINAL-PFUANZEN. HOPS. CHICAGO: A. W. MUMFORO. PUBLISHER. HOPS. (Humulus lupulus I/.) "A land of hops and poppy-mingled fields." — Tennyson: Aylmer's Field. The hop plant is a creeping perennial tarius, that is, the willow wolf or willow with several stems or branches attaining destroyer. a length of fifteen to twenty-five feet. It Beside the countries above named hops has numerous opposite three to five is also cultivated in Brazil and other lobed, palmately veined, coarsely toothed South American countries, Australia and leaves with long leaf stalks (petioles). India. There are several cultivated va- Flowers unisexual, that is staminate and rieties. According to most authorities it pistillate flowers separate, either on sep- is not supposed to be indigenous to North arate plants (dioecious) or upon different America, but Millspaugh expresses it as branches of the same plant (monoecious), his opinion that it is indigenous north- Flowers insignificant in loose, drooping ward and westward, growing in alluvial axillary panicles. Fruit a cone-like catkin soil, blossoming in July and fruiting in usually designated a strobile. September. The hop has been called the northern The plants are planted in rows and the vine. It is found in a wild state through- rapidly growing branches trained upon out Europe, excepting the extreme north, poles stuck into the soil. Three or four and extends east to the Caucasus and male plants (with staminate flowers) are through central Asia. It is a handsome grown in an acre patch to supply the nec- plant and not infrequently used as an ar- essary pollen. Some authorities state, bor plant. The lower or basal leaves are however, that the female plants develop very large, gradually decreasing in size enough staminate flowers to effect pol- toward the apex. H. lupulus> is the only lination. It is extensively cultivated in representative of the genus. England, Germany and France. Also in It is rather remarkable that a plant so New England, New York, Michigan, and widely distributed and familiar should in fact nearly every State in the Union, not have been known to the Greeks and In Belgium the young, tender tops of Romans. Its cultivation in Europe dates the plants are cut off in the spring and back to the eighth and ninth centuries, eaten like asparagus, especially recom- It was, however, not extensively culti- mended to the pale and anaemic and those vated until about the sixteenth and seven- with scrofulous taints, teenth centuries. The peculiar hop-like fruiting known The word hop (German, Hopfen) is of as strobiles are collected in the fall of the very uncertain origin. According to year (September to October), dried and some authorities it is traceable to the old tightly packed into bales. The base of English, hoppan, in reference to the habit the scales of the strobile are covered with of the plant in climbing over hedges and a yellowish powder, consisting of resin- fences. Humulus is said to refer to its bearing glands, known as lupulin. One habit of creeping over the soil. Lupulus pound of hops yields about one ounce of (diminutive of lupus, wolf) is said to re- lupulin. Since the medicinal virtues of fer to the pernicious and destructive in- hops reside in the'lupulin it will be readily fluence the hop plant has upon plants understood that the hops from which the which it uses as a support, especially the glands have been removed is of little or willows. Plinius named it Lupus salic- no medicinal value. Lupulin as well as 235 the hops have a faint, peculiar, somewhat abdominal organs. It has undoubted yeasty odor, which increases with age due value as a bitter tonic in dyspepsia and in to the development of valerianic acid, undue cerebral excitation. Tincture of For medicinal purposes only fresh hops lupulin and red pepper (capsicum) enjoys should be used. the reputation of being a very efficient The principal use of hops is in the substitute for alcoholic stimulants when manufacture of beer, to which it imparts their use is to be discontinued. Earlier the peculiarly bitter taste, and its repute physicians recommended hops very high- as a tonic. For this purpose enormous ly in kidney and liver complaints, as a quantities are consumed in Germany and "blood purifier" and to cure eruptive skin England. The exhausted hops from the troubles. It is recommended in nervous breweries form an excellent fertilizer for troubles and in delirium tremens. The light soils. The leaves have been used roots were formerly employed as a sub- as fodder for cows. Leaves, stems and stitute for sarsaparilla. roots possess astringent properties and Hops contains an etherial oil, resin and have been used in tanning. In Sweden tannic acid. The oil and the resin are the fibre of the stems is used in manufac- important constituents in the manufac turing a very durable white cloth, not ture of beer. The young shoots contain unlike the cloth made from hemp and asparagin, etherial oil, resin and sugar, flax. Description of Plate. — A, staminate Hops is used medicinally. It at first (male) inflorescence ; B, pistillate (female) causes a very slight excitation of brain inflorescence; C, fruiting branch; I, and heart, followed by a rather pro- staminate flower ; 2, perigone ; 3, stamen ; nounced disposition to sleep. Pillows 4, open anther; 5, pollen; 6, pistillate cat- stuffed with hops form a very popular kin ; 7, 8, o:, pistillate flowers ; 10, ^cales ; domestic remedy for wakefulness. Hop n, 12, 13, scales and flowers; T" 15, bags dipped in hot water form a very fruit; 16, 17, 19, seed; 20, resin gland (lu- soothing external application in painful pulin). Albert Schneider, inflammatory conditions, especially of the AWAKENING. Never yet was a springtime, Late though lingered the snow, That the sap stirred not at the whisper Of the south wind sweet and low; Never yet was a springtime When the buds forgot to blow. -Margaret E. Sangster. 236 1. fa JUN DfcS^