Birds and all Nature, Vol. V, No. 5, May 1899

In regard to their movements and mental characteristics, the conies have been placed between the unwieldy rhinoceros and the nimble rodent. They are excellent climbers. The soles of the feet are as elastic and springy as rubber, enabling the animal to contract and distend the middle cleft or fissure of its sole-pad at will, and thereby to secure a hold on a smooth surface by means of suction. In behavior the conies are gentle, simple, and timid. The social instinct is highly developed in them, and they are rarely seen alone.

The conies have been regarded as the smallest and daintiest of all the existing species of odd-toed animals. Naturalists, however, have held widely divergent opinions as to the classification of the pretty cliff-dwellers. Pallas, because of their habits and outward appearance, called them rodents. Oken thought them to be related to the marsupials, or pouched animals. Cuvier placed them in his order of "many-toed animals," which classification has also been disputed, and Huxley has raised them to the dignity of representatives of a distinct order. Who shall decide where all pretend to know?

COFFEE

(Coffea Arabica L.)DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER,Northwestern University School of Pharmacy

"Directly after coffee the band began to play."

– Greville, Memoirs, June 5, 1831.

COFFEE is the seed of a small evergreen tree or shrub ranging from 15 to 25 feet in height. The branches are spreading or even pendant with opposite short petioled leaves, which are ovate, smooth, leathery, and dark green. The flowers are perfect, fragrant, occurring in groups of from three to seven in the axils of the leaves. The corolla is white, the calyx green and small. The ovary is green at first, changing to yellowish, and finally to deep red or purple at maturity. Each ovary has two seeds, the so-called coffee beans.

The coffee tree is a native of the tropical parts of Africa, in Abyssinia and the interior. The Arabians were among the first to transport it to their native country for the purposes of cultivation. From Arabia it was soon transplanted to other tropical countries.

The name coffee (Kaffee, Ger., Cafféier, Fr.) was supposed to have been derived from the Arabian word Kahwah or Cahuah, which referred to the drink made from the coffee beans as well as to wines. It is now generally believed that the word was derived from Kaffa, a country of the Abyssinian highlands where the plant grows wild very abundantly.

From Kaffa the coffee plant found its way into Persia about the year 875, and still later into Turkey. According to popular belief, the drink coffee was the invention of the Sheik Omar in 1258. Others maintain that the drink was not known until even a later period. The mufti, Gemal Eddin of Aden, made a trip to Persia in 1500, where he learned the use of coffee as a drink, and introduced it into his own country for the special purpose of supplying it to the dervishes to make them more enduring in their prayers and supplications. In 1511 coffee had already become a popular drink in Mecca. About this time Chair Beg, the governor of Mecca, issued an edict proclaiming coffee-drinking injurious and making the use of coffee a crime against the laws of the Koran. It was prophesied that on the day of judgment the faces of coffee drinkers would be blacker than the pot in which the coffee was made. As a result of this crusade the coffee houses were closed; the coffee plantations were destroyed, and offenders were treated to the bastinade or a reversed ride on a donkey. The next governor of Mecca again opened the coffee houses, and in 1534 Sultan Soliman opened the first coffee houses in Constantinople, which were, however, again closed by Sultan Murad II., but not for long. In 1624 Venetian merchants brought large quantities of coffee into northern Italy. In 1632 there were 1,000 public coffee houses in Cairo. In 1645 coffee-drinking had already become very common in southern Italy. A Greek named Pasqua erected the first coffee house in London (1652). Coffee houses appeared in other cities in about the following order: Marseilles, 1671; Paris, 1672; Vienna, 1683; Nürnberg and Regensburg, 1686; Hamburg, 1687; Stuttgart, 1712; Berlin, 1721. In 1674 the ladies of London petitioned the government to suppress the coffee houses. To discourage the use of coffee it was maintained that the drink was made from tar, soot, blood of Turks, old shoes, old boots, etc.

These coffee houses were of great significance, as may be gathered from the rapidity with which they spread and the general favor with which they were received. They were visited, not so much on account of the drink that was dispensed there, but rather for the purpose of discussing political situations; they constituted the favorite meeting-places for anarchists, revolutionaries, and high-class criminals. At times it even became necessary to close them entirely in order to check or suppress political intrigues or plottings against the government. At the present time the saloons take the place of coffee houses in most countries, and many of them are still the hotbeds of anarchy and crime. In Turkey, where alcoholic drinks are prohibited, coffee houses have full swing.

The Dutch again seemed to have been the first to attempt the cultivation of the coffee plant. In 1650 they succeeded in transplanting a few trees from Mecca to Batavia. From 1680 to 1690 the island already had large plantations; others were soon started in Ceylon, Surinam, and the Sunda islands. About 1713 Captain Desclieux carried some plants to the French possessions of the West Indies (Martinique). It is reported that only a single plant reached its destination alive, which is the ancestor of the coffee trees of the enormous plantations of the West Indies and South America.

The plant thrives best in a loamy soil in an average annual temperature of about 27 degrees C., with considerable moisture and shade. Most plantations are at an elevation of 1,000 feet to 2,500 above the sea-level. In order to insure larger yields and to make gathering easier the trees of the South American plantations are clipped so as to keep their height at about 6 feet to 6.5 feet. The yield begins with the third year and continues increasingly up to the twentieth year. The fruit matures at all seasons, and is gathered about three times each year. In Arabia, where the trees are usually not clipped, and hence comparatively large, the fruit is knocked off by means of sticks. In the West Indies and South America the red, not fully matured fruit is picked by hand. The outer hard shell (fruit coat, pericarp) is removed by pressure, rolling, and shaking. The beans are now ready for the market.

All of the different varieties or kinds of coffee found upon the market are from two species of Coffea; namely, C. Arabica and C. Liberica; the latter yielding the Liberian coffee, which is of excellent quality.

There are a number of so-called coffees which are used as substitutes for true coffee, of which the following are the more important. California coffee is the somewhat coffee-like fruit of Rhamnus Californica. Crust coffee is a drink resembling coffee in color, made from roasted bread crusts steeped in water. Mogdad or Negro coffee is the roasted seeds of Cassia occidentalis, which are used as a substitute for coffee, though they contain no caffeine. Swedish coffee is the seeds of Astragalus Boeticus used as coffee, for which purpose it is cultivated in parts of Germany and Hungary. Wild coffee is a name given to several plants native in India, as Faramea odoratissima, Eugenia disticha, and Casearia laetioides. Kentucky coffee is a large leguminous tree (Gymnocladus Canadensis) of which the seeds (coffee nut) are used as a substitute for coffee.

The coffee beans are roasted before they are in suitable condition for use. At first the green beans were used. According to one story, a shepherd noticed that some of his sheep ate the fruit of the coffee tree, and, as a result, became very frisky. Presuming that the coffee beans were the cause, he also ate of the beans and noted an exhilarating effect. The use of the roasted beans was said to have originated in Holland. Roasting should be done carefully in a closed vessel in order to retain as much of the aroma as possible. This process modifies the beans very much; they change from green or greenish to brown and dark brown and become brittle; they lose about 15 to 30 per cent. of their weight, at the same time increasing in size from 30 to 50 per cent. The aroma is almost wholly produced by the roasting process, but if continued too long or done at too high a temperature the aroma is again lost. The temperature should be uniform and the beans should be stirred continually. It should also be remembered that not all kinds or grades of coffee should be roasted alike. In order to develop the highest aroma, Mocha coffee should be roasted until it becomes a reddish yellow, and has lost 15 per cent of its weight. Martinique coffee should be roasted to a chestnut brown, with a loss of 20 percent in weight; Bourbon to a light bronze and a loss in weight of 18 percent.

The various coffee drinks prepared differ very widely in quality. This is dependent upon the varying methods employed in making them. The following method is highly recommended. It is advised to purchase a good quality of the unroasted beans and proceed as follows:

1. Sorting Berries.– Carefully remove bad berries, dirt, husks, stones, and other foreign matter usually present in larger or smaller quantities.

2. Roasting.– Roast as indicated above. Coat the hot beans with sugar to retain the aromatic principles; cool rapidly and keep in a dry place.

3. Grinding.– Grind fine just before the coffee is to be made.

4. Preparing the Coffee.– Coffee is usually made according to three methods; by infiltration, by infusion, and by boiling. Coffee by infiltration is made by allowing boiling water to percolate through the ground coffee. It is stated that much of the aroma is lost by this method. In the second process boiling water is poured upon the ground coffee and allowed to stand for some time. This gives a highly aromatic but comparatively weak coffee. In the third process the coffee is boiled for about five or ten minutes. This gives a strong coffee, but much of the aroma is lost. Since these methods do not give an ideal coffee an eminent authority recommends a fourth, as follows: For three small cups of coffee take one ounce of finely ground coffee. Place three-fourths of this in the pot of boiling water and boil for five or ten minutes; then throw in the remaining one-fourth and remove from the fire at once, stirring for one minute. The first portion of the coffee gives strength, the second the flavor. It is not advisable to filter the coffee as it is apt to modify the aroma. Allow it to stand until the grounds have settled.

Coffee is very frequently adulterated, especially ground coffee. It is stated that the beans have been adulterated with artificial beans made of starch or of clay. It is not uncommon to find pebbles which have been added to increase the weight. Most commonly the beans are not carefully hulled and sorted so that a considerable percentage of spoiled beans and hulls are present. The coffee plant seems to be quite susceptible to the attacks of various pests. The coffee blight is a microscopic fungus (Hemileia vastatrix) very common in Ceylon which has on several occasions almost entirely destroyed the coffee plantations. The coffee borer is the larva of a coleopter (Xylotrechus quadripes) which injures and destroys the trees by boring into the wood. The pest is most abundant in India, while another borer (Areocerus coffeæ) is common in South Africa. Another destructive pest is the so-called coffee bug (Lecanium coffeæ).

Ground coffee is adulterated with a great variety of substances. The roasted and ground roots of chicory (Cichorium intybus), carrot (Daucus carota), beet (Beta vulgaris), are very much used. The rush nut (Cyperus esculentus), and peanut are also used. A large number of seeds are used for adulterating purposes, as corn, barley, oats, wheat, rye, and other cereals; further, yellow flag, gray pea, milk vetch, astragalus, hibiscus, holly, Spanish broom, acorns, chestnuts, lupin, peas, haricots, horse bean, sun flower, seeds of gooseberry and grape. The seeds of Cassia occidentalis known as "wild coffee" are used as a substitute for coffee in Dominica and are said to have a flavor equal to that of true coffee. Sacca or Sultan coffee consists of the husks of the coffee berry, usually mixed with coffee and said to improve its flavor. In Sumatra an infusion is made of the coffee leaves or the young twigs and leaves. This is said to produce a refreshing drink having the taste and aroma of a mixture of coffee and tea. Efforts have been made, especially in England, to introduce leaf coffee with but little success.

As already stated, most of the many varieties of coffee upon the market are obtained from one species, and are usually classified according to the countries from which they are shipped. The following are the most important varieties:

1. African, or Ethiopian Coffee.

2. Abyssinia.

3. Galla.

4. Kaffa.

5. Arabian, Levant, or Mocha Coffee.

6. Bohuri.

7. Sakki.

8. Salabi.

9. Dutch Indian Coffee.

10. Java.

11. Batavia.

12. Tscheribon.

13. Samarang.

14. Menado of the Celebes.

15. Dadep of the Celebes.

16. Sumatra.

17. American Indian Coffee.

18. Manila.

19. Cavita.

20. Laguna.

21. Batanges.

22. Mindanao.

23. French Indian, or Bourbon Coffee.

24. English Indian Coffee.

25. Nilgeri.

26. Madras.

27. Ceylon.

28. Native.

29. Plantation.

30. West Indian and Central American Coffee.

31. Cuba (Havana, Santiago.)

32. Jamaica.

33. Santa Lucia.

34. Trinidad.

35. Domingo.

36. Porto Rico.

37. Martinique.

38. Guadelupe.

39. Dominica.

40. Granada.

41. Costa Rica.

42. Guatemala, Nicaragua, Salvador.

43. South American Coffee.

44. Surinam.

45. Berbice, Demerara.

46. Venezuela, La Guayra, Caracas.

47. Puerto Cabello, or Coast Porto Rico.

48. Brazil.

Coffee owes its stimulating properties to an alkaloid caffeine which occurs in the beans as well as in other parts of the plant. Caffeine also occurs in other plants; it is the active principle in Guarana and is perhaps identical with theine, the active principle of tea. It is generally believed that moderate coffee-drinking is beneficial rather than otherwise. It has ever been the favorite drink of those actively engaged in intellectual work. It has been tested and found satisfactory as a stimulant for soldiers on long or forced marches. Injurious effects are due to excessively strong coffee, or a long-continued use of coffee which has been standing for some time and which contains considerable tannin. Caffeine has been found very useful in hemicrania and various nervous affections. It has also been recommended in dropsy due to heart lesion. Strong, black coffee is very valuable in counteracting poisoning by opium and its derivatives. Coffee will also check vomiting. Strong coffee is apt to develop various nervous troubles, as palpitation of the heart, sleeplessness, indigestion, trembling. According to one authority, it is the aromatic principle of coffee which causes sleeplessness.

THE TWO ACORNS

DR. CHARLES MACKAYIn ancient time, two acorns, in their cups,Shaken by winds and ripeness from the tree,Dropped side by side into the ferns and grass;"Where have I fallen – to what base region come?"Exclaimed the one. "The joyous breeze no moreRocks me to slumber on the sheltering bough;The sunlight streams no longer on my face;I look no more from altitudes sereneUpon the world reposing far below —Its plains, its hills, its rivers, and its woods.To me the nightingale sings hymns no more;But I am made companion of the worm,And rot on the chill earth. Around me growNothing but useless weeds, and grass, and fern,Unfit to hold companionship with me.Ah, me! most wretched! rain and frost and dewAnd all the pangs and penalties of earthCorrupt me where I lie – degenerate."And thus the acorn made its daily moan.The other raised no murmur of complaintAnd looked with no contempt upon the grassNor called the branching fern a worthless weedNor scorned the woodland flowers that round it blew.All silently and piously it layUpon the kindly bosom of the earth.It blessed the warmth with which the noonday sunMade fruitful all the ground; it loved the dews,The moonlight and the snow, the frost and rainAnd all the change of seasons as they passed.It sank into the bosom of the soil.The bursting life, enclosed within its husk,Broke through its fetters; it extended rootsAnd twined them freely in the grateful ground;It sprouted up and looked upon the light;The sunshine fed it; the embracing airEndowed it with vitality and strength;The rains of heaven supplied it nourishment.And so from month to month, and year to year,It grew in beauty and in usefulness,Until its large circumference enclosedShelter for flocks and herds; until its boughsAfforded homes for happy multitudes —The dormouse and the chaffinch and the jayAnd countless myriads of minuter life;Until its bole, too vast for the embraceOf human arms, stood, in the forest depths,The model and glory of the wood.Its sister acorn perished in its pride.

A DEFENSE OF SOME BIRDS

ABBIE C. STRONG

To the Editor of Birds and All Nature:

IN THE October number of Birds and All Nature was an article containing a list of the enemies of song birds and ordering their banishment, if one would enjoy the presence of the little songsters. Included in the list were the blue jays. There was also an article entitled, "A new Champion for the English Sparrow."

I always rejoice when someone comes forward in defense of the despised class, finding them not wholly faulty. The same hand created all, and surely each must be of some use. I feel like saying something in favor of the blue jay. I am sure that all will acknowledge that the jay has a handsome form and rare and beautiful plumage, which at least makes him "a thing of beauty;" he may not be "a joy forever," but surely a delight to the eye. Formerly my home was in northern Iowa, living many years in one place in a town of about 6,000 inhabitants. Our lawn was spacious for a town, filled with shrubbery and trees, both evergreen and deciduous. We did not encourage cats, usually keeping dishes of water here and there for the accommodation of the birds, and other attractions which they seemed to appreciate, as numerous migratory birds came each season, taking up their abode with us, to their evident enjoyment and giving us much pleasure. The jays were always with us, were petted and as they became friendly and tame, naturally we were much attached to them. The limb of a tree growing very close to a back veranda had been sawed off and a board nailed on the top forming a table, where we daily laid crumbs and a number of jays as regularly came after them. They were fond of meat and almost anything from the table. I found the jay to be a provident bird; after satisfying his appetite he safely buried the remainder of his food. I often noticed them concealing acorns and other nuts in hollow places in the trees, and noticed also that they were left till a stormy day which prevented them from finding food elsewhere as usual. I saw one bury a bit of meat under leaves near a dead flower twig; there came a rather deep fall of snow that night, but the bird managed to find it the next day with little difficulty and flew off with a cry of delight. The jay nested on the grounds, but that did not seem to prevent other birds from coming in great numbers and variety and making their little homes there also. I recall one year which was but a repetition of most of the years. The jays had a nest in a crab apple tree, a cat bird nested in a vine close to the house, a robin came familiarly to one of the veranda pillars in front of the house and built her solid nest of mud and grass. A brown thrush took a dense spruce for her nesting-place. A blackbird, to my surprise, built a nest in a fir tree. A grosbeak built a nest on a swaying branch of a willow at the back of the lot, and a bluebird occupied a little house we had put in a walnut tree for her convenience.

The orioles were always in evidence, usually making their appearance in early May when the fruit trees were in bloom; first seen busily looking the trees over for insects. Generally they selected an outreaching branch of a cottonwood tree, often near where they could be watched from a veranda, building their graceful nests and caring for their little ones. The chattering little wrens never questioned our friendliness, but always built loose little nests quite within our reach, either in a box we provided for them or over the door; at the same time others had their little homes in cozy places in the barn, or in the loose bark of an old tree. Each bird attended to its own affairs without perceptible molestation from others, as a rule. It was evident, however, that the jays were not tolerated in company with other birds to any great extent, and I fancy they had a rather bad reputation, for I noticed the birds took a defensive position often when a jay made its appearance near their homes without any apparent evil intent, that I could discover. I would sometimes see as many as five varieties of birds after one jay; they were always victors, too. The robin, I always observed, could defend himself against a jay, never seemed afraid to do so, and indeed seemed to be the aggressor. The blue jay may be a sly bird, a "robber and a thief," though I never detected those traits to any especial extent; but he is handsome and brightens the winter landscape. To be sure, I found that he was fond of green peas and corn and did not hesitate in helping himself, also sampling the bright Duchess apples. The robin is equally fond of all small fruits, and greedy as well.

The bluebirds came regularly in the early spring for years, then ceased apparently when the sparrows made their appearance. The sparrows made many attempts to usurp the little house provided especially for the bluebird, but were not allowed to do so and never gained a footing on the premises; still the little spring harbinger ever after kept aloof from us. In the winter season the English sparrow came occasionally to share the bluejays' tidbits, but was promptly repulsed, although other birds came freely. The dainty little snowbird, several kinds of woodpeckers, now and then a chickadee, and some other winter birds came also. I had ways of enticing the birds to come near where I could watch their habits and peculiarities. All birds fear cats. There are cats and cats – some never molest birds or little chickens, but, as a rule, they seem to be their natural enemies. Little boys, I am sorry to say, cause great destruction of birds, often thoughtlessly, by trying their marksmanship. I would banish every "sling shot!" It is even worse than taking eggs, for they are generally replaced; but when the mother-bird is taken a little brood is left helpless to suffer and die. Thoughtful kindness towards little birds should be encouraged among children. I would have one day each year devoted to the subject in all public schools. It would bring birds under the observation of many who otherwise would pass them by unnoticed, and when one takes an interest in anything, be it flowers or birds, he or she is less likely to cause their destruction.

MARCH AND MAY

"The brown, brown woods of MarchAre the green, green woods of May,And they lift their arms with a freer swingAnd shake out their pennons gay.And the brown, dead world of MarchIs the living world of to-day;Life throbs and flushes and flashes outIn the color and fragrance of May."

BONAPARTE'S GULL

(Larus Philadelphia.)LYNDS JONES

THE whole of North America is the home of this pretty little gull – from the Bermudas to Labrador on the east, California to the Yukon on the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico at least to the Arctic circle. This species is often common near streams and other bodies of water large enough to furnish their food of fish. I have often seen flocks of twenty or more birds passing over central Iowa during the vernal migrations, sometimes even stooping to snatch some toothsome grub from the freshly turned furrow, but oftener sweeping past within easy range in that lithe, graceful flight so characteristic of this small gull. To the farm boy, shut in away from any body of water larger than an ice pond, where no ocean birds could ever be expected to wander, the appearance of this bird, bearing the wild freedom of the ocean in his every movement, is truly a revelation. It sends the blood coursing hotly through his veins until the impulse to get away into the broader activities of life cannot be put down. I know not why it is, but some birds, seen for the first time, seem to waft the perfume of an unknown country to us, well-nigh irresistibly calling us away upon a new field of exploration or endeavor.