A Kind Word For the Sparrow

1895

The sparrow has several characteristics that are altogether admirable. Very few of the creatures who navigate the air or walk upon the ground show greater capacity or willingness to take care of themselves. The sparrow, like the despised rat, has no little merit as a tiny scavenger, and, like the rat, where man goes he follows.

It is safe to say nothing has been made in vain. Even those creatures which are esteemed by man as vermin have their place and their use in the wise order of Providence. This is none the less true because we cannot penetrate the wisdom of creation. Despite the persecution of his enemies and the vagaries of the weather, it will be observed that the sparrow flourishes. The merciful men and women who look after the vagrant birds and dogs and other creatures who mutely appeal to human sympathy will not go without their reward. — Philadelphia Record.

The Stork

1895

In Holland some bad boys presumed upon the absence of the stork from her nest to substitute hen eggs for her own. The mother never suspected the trick and conscientiously hatched out her false progeniture. But when the little pullets made their appearance father and mother were in consternation. They screamed in turn, flapped their wings, turned around their nest in great excitement, then together pounced upon the fraudulent children and massacred them without pity.

A similar story comes from a greater distance. At Smyrna a French surgeon, wishing to procure storks' eggs for some purpose, abstracted them from a nest in the vicinity and replaced them with hens' eggs, as in the preceding case. The mother faithfully hatched them out, but at the critical moment there was a conjugal scene, and the husband left home only to return very soon with a large number of his brethren. A court was constituted and a circle formed around the wife accused of adultery. The husband exposed his complaint, and the poor innocent, condemned to death, was immediately hacked to pieces. The nest remained deserted.

Like Caesar's wife, the female stork remains above suspicion. — French of Maurice Englehart.

House Wren

1916

(Troglodytes aedon)

Length, four and three-fourths inches. The only one of our wrens with wholly whitish underparts that lacks a light line over the eye.

Range: Breeds throughout the United States (except the South Atlantic and Gulf States) and southern Canada; winters in the southern United States and Mexico.

Habits and economic status: The rich, bubbling song of the familiar little house wren is one of the sweetest associations connected with country and suburban life. Its tiny body, long bill, sharp eyes, and strong feet peculiarly adapt it for creeping into all sorts of nooks and crannies where lurk the insects it feeds on. A cavity in a fence post, a hole in a tree, or a box will be welcomed alike by this busybody as a nesting site; but since the advent of the quarrelsome English sparrow such domiciles are at a premium and the wren's eggs and family are safe only in cavities having entrances too small to admit the sparrow. Hence it behooves the farmer's boy to provide boxes the entrances to which are about an inch in diameter, nailing these under gables of barns and outhouses or in orchard trees. In this way the numbers of this useful bird can be increased, greatly to the advantage of the farmer. Grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, bugs, and spiders are the principal elements of its food. Cutworms, weevils, ticks, and plant lice are among the injurious forms eaten. The nestlings of house wrens consume great quantities of insects.

Did You Ever See a Calf Like This?

1916

It Lived Six Months and Could Eat With Either Mouth or Both, Just as It Liked, Until It Caught Cold.

We often see calves with more than their normal share of legs, but did you ever see such a calf as this?

This freak was born on the farm of Charles Brunson, near Dayton, Ohio, and was of Jersey parentage. The little fellow was perfectly healthy and could eat with either mouth or with both, just as it liked. The heads were perfect, and performed every function that such heads would be called upon to do.

For nearly six months the calf lived and seemed to be happy, but grew very little. Then it developed a cold and died, in spite of the efforts of three veterinarians to save it. The calf was mounted and is being preserved as a curiosity.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

An All-Embracing "Tabby"

1916

Dog, Rabbit and Chicken Are Part of Her Family.

PERRY, Maine — A black cat, Dinah by name, in the family of John Clark of Perry, adopts everything on the premises small enough for her to cuddle. Of her latest brood of kittens she was allowed to keep one, and a neighbor, coming into the house suddenly, surprised the maternal one in a clothes basket with her own jetty offspring, a gray kitten of another pussy's family, and a white rabbit. The assortment made quite a medley. Later on she added a puppy to her tribe, and she also cuddles an orphan chicken.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

Queer Compact of Osprey and Eagle

1916

WHY FISH HAWK FEEDS KING OF THE AIR.

Bird of Freedom Watches Fisher's Nest While It Dives for Prey for Both.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania. — Everybody who summers on the Jersey coast has seen the fish hawk at work, tho of late years the number of such birds seems to be decreasing.

The negroes down in Charles County, Maryland, in that faraway region of Rock Point, on the lower Potomac where the river broadens out like a sea and where the fish hawk is common, have a story about it and the eagle which is interesting. While the fish hawk, or osprey, dives into the water for its food, which consists of fish and eels, the eagle is a "landlubber" and would starve is he had to undertake a livelihood by braving the watery depths.

The story that has its place in the folklore of the "Black Belt" of Maryland is that one day the eagle was very hungry and meeting the fish hawk as he was flying home with a fine fat fish in his claws, said:

"Mr. Fish Hawk, you and I might as well be friends and join together and work for our mutual advantage."

"I am willing," said the fish hawk, soaring along with the eagle by his side, but keeping a tighter grip on the fish.

Fish Hawk Feeds Eagle.

"As you agree with me, I'll tell you what we can do," said the eagle. "If you will catch all the fish you can and give me half of what you get, I'll keep watch in the old pine tree next to your nest and protect your wife and children from the sparrow hawks and your other enemies while you are at work fishing."

"All right," said the fish hawk, "I will do it."

From that day on, the story goes, the fish hawk has fed the eagle. He does this in an odd and interesting manner. His eyes are very keen and he can see to a considerable depth in the water, and as he skims along over the surface of the deep he picks out the fat fish he wants. Quick as lightning he plunges down, extends his claws, and in the next instant rises with the wriggling prey in his talons. After taking a firmer hold on his victim he ascends by a spiral flight into the heavens. The eagle has been watching from a tall tree or crag, and, as the fish hawk rises, the eagle also darts into the sky above him. This is notice for all the fish hawk's enemies among the feathered tribe to retreat.

"Throw and Catch" in Air.

Just as the fish hawk gets to a point on a plane that is level with that of the eagle, he relaxes his grip on the fish and it begins to fall. It is then the eagle's time for quick action. Like a shot from a rapid-fire gun he dives and in a second or two has the fish in his claws.

The aerial "throw and catch" game between the two great birds goes on continually over the broad waters of the Potomac, much to the edification of the onlookers. Of course there must be times when the eagle fails to catch the fish as he swoops down thru the air after it, but it cannot be proved by any one who has witnessed this particular aerial feat on the part of the "bird of freedom." Nobody seems to have ever seen the eagle miss and nobody seems to have ever known the fish hawk to fail to catch a fish when he dived for it.

As the fish hawk rises in the air oftentimes, especially on a sunny day, the sheen of the fish can be seen like a piece of silver in his claws, and sometimes the "silver" can he seen wriggling, impressing one strangely as his eyes witness this tragedy in the air in which the victim can have no hope of rescue.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

Why Flowers Bloom and Birds Sing

1901

The old comfortable belief of our forefathers that the flowers and fruits and all the good things of the earth were created for their benefit has been completely shattered by science. The shining gold of April celandine, the scent of white violets, are not for us at all, says science, not even for the insects that come to them for honey but just for the sake of the flowers themselves, which must get cross fertilized or die out. Self, self only, is the bedrock of it all. So the violets are not fragrant for us, and the thrush was not made to sing on our account but to charm his mate, and the stars do not shine so as to light our way through the wood and across the wild on moonless nights.

Fortunately this discovery need not take away our appetite for the feast which is spread out. We need have no more compunction in coming to it uninvited than has the bee or the moth in sipping the nectar of the blossom. It may even be that we, like they, do render unconsciously some return for benefits received. — Saturday Review.

Pigeons' Nests

1901

A curious preference of certain pigeons for the use of metallic objects in building their nests is noted by M. Maurice Dusolier in The Revue Scientifique.

He assures us that several pairs of these birds that he has observed in Paris have raised their young in nests made entirely of hairpins! These articles they collected in the paths of the Luxembourg.

The young pigeons grew up normally as they would in a softer nest. M. Dusolier believes that there is a useful suggestion in this for pigeon fanciers, who are often overanxious, he thinks, to see that their charges have soft material for their nests.

Animals Asleep

1901

The Attitudes Some of Them Assume During Slumber

The chimpanzee, as far as I have been able to ascertain, never sleeps upon its back, its favorite position being on its side, with one arm under its head. In this respect it resembles children of from 4 to 10 years of age. The only gorilla which I have had an opportunity of observing also apparently preferred this attitude, but occasionally seemed to sleep comfortably in a crouching position, with its head bowed down between its knees. This latter attitude appears to be the one adopted by nearly all the lower monkeys.

When turned out at pasture, all horses, except those which are crippled by disease or injury, lie down at night with their legs folded beneath their bodies. Some of the short limbed and thick jointed animals, such as the elephant, hippopotamus and rhinoceros, find a difficulty in bending their legs under them after the manner of their more slender kindred. Hence they sleep upon their sides in a pig-like attitude.

Bears, as far as I have been able to observe, have no characteristic sleeping attitude, for you see them lying in all sorts of grotesque positions, as if they found one quite as comfortable as another. Indeed, a well favored bear. covered with a good layer of fat and a thick coat of fur, may be said to carry his bed about with him, and any part of his skin will serve either for mattress or coverlet, as occasion arises. Nevertheless, the bear, when sound asleep, tends to curl himself up with his nose and paws inward, and this is probably the attitude which in cold climates he adopts when hibernating in his den during the winter season.

Kangaroos also appear to be quite indifferent as to the position of their bodies during sleep. Any sunny afternoon at the zoological gardens you may see them sprawling on the straw in all imaginable attitudes. The only things they seem to demand in order to be perfectly comfortable are reasonable warmth and plenty of elbow room. — Dr. Louis Robinson in Pearson's Magazine.

Largest of Animals

1901

Mr. Beddard in his book on whales reminds readers that although imagination is apt to picture the giant reptiles of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods as having exceeded in size all modern animals yet in fact there is no evidence that the earth has ever contained either on the land or in the sea creatures exceeding the whale in bulk. The mammoth was larger than the elephant, but the ichthyosaurus could not match the whale for size, although with its terrible jaws it would doubtless have been the whale's master.

Failure

1901

"Failure," says Keats, "is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterward carefully avoid."

Defeats and failures have played a great part in the history of success. It is not pleasant to think that more or less of defeat is absolutely necessary to great success. But that it is true every student of history knows. Defeats and failures are great developers of character. They are the gymnasia which have strengthened the muscles or manhood, the stamina, the backbone which have won victories. They have made the giants of the race by giving titanic muscles, brawny sinews, far reaching intellects.

How true it is that poverty often bides her charms under ugly masks! Thousands have been forced into greatness by their very struggle to keep the wolf from the door. She is often the only agent nature can employ to call a man out of himself and push him on toward the goal which she had fitted him to reach. Nature cares little for his ease and pleasure. It is the man she is after, and she will pay any price or resort to any expedient to lure him on. She masks her own ends in man's wants and urges him onward, oftentimes through difficulties and obstacles which are well nigh disheartening, but ever onward and upward toward the goal. — Register.

Believe Squirrels Migrate

1919

Hunters Cannot Otherwise Explain Disappearance of Game.

SPRINGFIELD, 'Mo. — The disappearance of squirrels from many communities in the Ozark region of southern Missouri has caused many old hunters to marvel. Early in the fall the frisky little animals were in evidence in every patch of woods, not only making the hickory nuts disappear, but in many instances invading the cornfield.

Now they are reported scarce, and it is not due alone to the hunters. There has been a big migration, some hunters advance the theory. They think the squirrels migrated into Missouri from the Arkansas forests and returned when cold weather set in.

Very Cooling To Think Of

1910

Artificial Ice is Purer and Can Be Sold Cheaper Than Natural Product

No longer are dealers and users of ice compelled to stand sentinel over nature, with all her vagaries, and wait for ice to be frozen for them. Only a few years ago ice was gathered from anywhere and everywhere, and none could guess what sort of refuse contaminated the waters, rivers, canals, ponds and pools where it was gathered.

No longer does the citizen in the midst of a mild winter take alarm at the prospect of no ice or ice at an almost prohibitive price on account of its scarcity. The manufactured ice is purer than that of nature, without flaw or blowhole, free from admixture of snow and therefore more lasting.

Artificial ice is one of the great discoveries of the last few years and has been reduced to such system that it can be sold at a good profit cheaper than that which was formerly sawed out, loaded in vehicles, hauled to railroad or steamer landing and shipped by rail or by sea to the vast and ugly storage houses, where it was taken from masses of sawdust as it was sold.

Man an Aquatic Animal

1910

Every moderately well-educated person knows that life originated in the water, but not so many are aware that we are still aquatic animals. Every cell except those of the outside skin is dependent upon a surrounding liquid to keep it alive, and if it became dry it would perish. A person who realizes this fact will always take care to drink plenty of water, and will also eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, since these contain large quantities of water, and that in a purer form than is usually available. The pickaninny shows his good sense when he feasts upon the juicy watermelon, and instead of ridiculing him we might better go and do likewise.

As to Conversational Parrots

1902

Do parrots understand what they say? A correspondent writes that a friend with a fine Brazilian parrot has been staying with her. The parrot a fluent and accomplished speaker. A gray parrot was introduced one day, but the Brazilian haughtily declined to have anything to say to the gray. Then another friend, who had just been given a newly imported green Brazilian, brought the newcomer to call.

The moment the parrots caught sight of each other they broke into a torrent of apparently articulate language, consisting, as it seemed, of questions and answers, but what the language was no one present could tell. The owner of the first parrot had never during the years it had lived with her heard it speak this strange tongue. The two parrots talked to each other without ceasing all the time they were together, and a few days later, when they met again, exactly the same thing happened. Was the first parrot — long exiled from its native forests — asking eagerly for news of its people? — London Chronicle.

Weapons of Animals

1900

Claws, Teeth, Horns and Hoofs All Come In Handy at Times

Many animals, including both those that kill and those that are killed, are endowed with special means of offensive and defensive combat. The latter are often furnished with weapons of effective value, such as the horns of cattle and goats and the hoofs of horses.

Even some of the largest animals which are not carnivorous and may be said to have no enemies possess special organs that they can use for inflicting wounds. Such are the tusks of elephants, the horn of the rhinoceros and the antlers of the moose. Their primary purpose, however, is to aid in procuring food and in cleaving a way through forest and jungle.

With beasts and birds of prey weapons of attack are indispensable. Among the most highly developed are the retractile claws of the cat family, the cutting and tearing teeth of the wolf family and the talons of eagles and hawks. Even in lower forms of life we find highly specialized weapons, chief among which are the fangs of venomous serpents and the stings of bees, wasps and hornets, rendered far more effective by the presence of a powerful and sometimes deadly poison. — Philadelphia Times.

Hunting Giraffes

1900

No Danger Attends This Sport Except From the Animal's Heels

A good giraffe skin is worth from $10 to $20 in South Africa and much more in Europe. On their hunting trips 10 or 15 years ago it was a common matter for one hunter to kill 40 or 50 of these graceful animals in one day. The reason for this is that the giraffe is the most innocent of animals and easily hunted. They are absolutely defenseless, and there is hardly a case on record where a wounded giraffe turned upon the hunter. It is true, they bare great powers of speed, and they can dodge rapidly from tree to tree in the woods, but they offer such a fair mark that these tactics hardly ever save them.

Not until it is unusually frightened does the giraffe make its best speed, and when it is often too late, for the hunter is upon it. There is really no element of danger connected with this sport, and that makes it less exciting and attractive to a true sportsman. Under certain circumstances it is possible to be injured with the powerful legs of the giraffe, which are capable of kicking a blow that would kill a lion. The latter beast, for this reason, takes good care to attack the giraffe at unexpected moments.

It takes a good horse to run down a giraffe, and if the least advantage is permitted the wild creature the race is lost. Its peculiar gait is very ungraceful and deceptive, but it covers the ground with remarkable facility. In the open veldt the hunters have always the best of the race, but the giraffe, when surprised, makes instantly for the forest, where tough vines and intermingling branches make travel difficult for the hunter. The bushes and thorns tear and lacerate the skin of the horses, but the tough skin of the giraffe is barely scratched. The creature will tear a path through the toughest and thickest jungle and never suffer in the least.

This skin, or hide, of the animal is its chief article of value. No wonder that the bullets often fail to penetrate this skin, for it is from three-quarters to an inch thick and as tough as it is thick. This skin when cured and tanned makes excellent leather for certain purposes. The Boers make riding whips and sandals out of the skins they do not send to Europe. The bones of the giraffe have also a commercial value. The leg bones are solid instead of hollow, and in Europe they are in great demand for manufacturing buttons and other bone articles. The tendons of the giraffe are so strong that they will sustain an enormous dead weight, which gives to them pecuniary value. — Scientific American.

A Comb In the Claw

1907

Many birds possess a useful comb in the claw of the middle toe of the foot. This has been noticed in owls, nightjars, herons, bitterns, cormorants, gannets, etc.

It has been explained as a means of holding the prey securely. The comb is sometimes replaced by a curved blade with teeth, which runs along the inner side of the claw. Such a blade is found in razorbills, wild ducks, gulls, starlings and many other birds.

Where a comb is required the inner edge of this blade becomes divided into teeth. Young nightjars or goatsuckers have only the blade, but old ones have a well developed comb.

Rats March Like Soldiers

1917

Rodents Have Little Difficulty in Finding Supply of Food, and Adapt Themselves to Conditions

The ready adaptability of rats to their surroundings is one of the qualities which has enabled them to conquer the world, E. W. Nelson writes in the National Geographic magazine. On the approach of warm weather in summer, large numbers of them leave buildings and resort to fields on farms or to the outskirts of the towns, where the growing vegetation, particularly cultivated plants, affords them an abundant supply until the approach of winter. At the beginning of cold weather they return again to the shelter of buildings, where they find the harvested crops ready for their consumption.

When the food supply suddenly decreases following a period of plenty during which the rats have greatly increased in numbers, a migratory impulse appears to affect the entire rat population over large areas and a general migration takes place. At such times the rats are extraordinarily bold, swimming rivers without hesitation, and surmounting all other natural obstacles. The first invasion of Europe, when rats swam the Volga, was an instance of this kind. Experiments by the United States public health service have shown that when released in the water of a harbor rats may swim ashore for a distance of 1,500 yards.

Will Women Abandon Love?

1910

Gertrude Atherton, the novelist, has been writing for Harper's Bazar on "The Woman in Love." In her first two papers Mrs. Atherton discusses those women in history whose love episodes have been the most striking thing about them. In her third paper, however, not yet published, she makes some predictions concerning the place that love will take in the future.

Mrs. Atherton does not go so far as Mrs. Belmont, who predicts that there will be a war between the sexes, due to the fact that men will not give women the suffrage. Mrs. Atherton believes and states, however, that from now on the love element will be a far less vital thing in women's lives than it has been heretofore. She thinks that the broadening out of feminine interests, the entrance of women into new fields, the intellectual development of women, are all factors which will fill women's lives to the comparative exclusion of that other factor which heretofore has been supposed to be "her whole existence."


The Busy Ant

Ants have six ears, which are located at about the queerest places imaginable — the legs. The ants are deaf to all sounds made by the vibration of the air, but detect the slightest possible vibrations of solid matter. This is supposed to be to their advantage. So sensitive are their feet that they can detect the drop of a small birdshot dropped on a table from a height of six inches and about 14 feet distant from an artificial nest placed at the other end of the table. The ant also has an elaborate array of noses.