Birds and Nature, Vol. 10 No. 1 [June 1901]

Nell Kimberly McElhone.

Center Column

BANDED AGATE (Lake Superior). MOSS AGATE.

Bottom Row

BANDED AGATE (Brazil). CLOUDED AGATE.

AGATE

Agate is a form of the common mineral quartz. From other forms of that mineral it differs in being made up of minute layers and in being variegated in color. The colors may appear in the form of bands or clouds. The banded agates appear to be made up of parallel layers, sometimes straight, but more often wavy or curved in outline. These layers or bands differ in color from one another, exhibiting shades of white, gray, blue, yellow, red, brown or black. To the naked eye they appear to vary in width from the finest lines to a width of a quarter of an inch or more. In reality, all the bands visible to the naked eye are made up of finer ones, to be seen only with the microscope. Thus in a single inch of thickness of agate Sir David Brewster, using the microscope, counted seventeen thousand and fifty layers. Besides differing in color, the layers differ in transparency and porosity, and these properties add to the variegated appearance of the agate.

On account of their beauties of color and outline, agates have been known and prized from the earliest times. They are mentioned by many of the ancient Greek writers, and the name agate is a corruption of the name Achates, a river in Sicily, whence the first stones of this kind used by the Greeks were obtained. This and neighboring localities continued to be the source of supply until the fifteenth century, when agates were found to occur in large quantities near Oberstein and Idar on the banks of the river Nahe, in the duchy of Oldenburg.

The industry of cutting and polishing the agates on a large scale was soon established there, and these places are to this day the center of the agate industry. The agates used most extensively at the present time are not, however, those found about Oberstein, but come from a region about one hundred miles in length extending from the Province of Rio Grande do Sul, of Southern Brazil, into Northern Uruguay.

The agates in this region, first discovered in 1827, so surpass in size and beauty those from any other known locality, that they form at the present time almost the only source of supply. They are shipped in large quantities as ballast to Oberstein and Idar, and here the work of cutting, polishing and coloring them is performed. The discovery that the attractiveness of agates could be enhanced by artificial coloring was made about the beginning of the nineteenth century. The natural colors are rarely of a high order, being often only variations of white and gray or dull yellows and reds. Through the difference of porosity of the different layers, however, and the consequent different absorption of coloring ingredients, methods of artificial coloring can be employed, which produce lasting and pleasing effects. Most agate used for ornamental purposes at the present time is therefore artificially colored.

Agates of considerable beauty, though not of great size, are found in many places in the United States. Those of Agate Bay, Lake Superior, have rich colors and make attractive charms and other ornaments. Agates are found in the beds of many streams in Colorado, Montana and other regions of the Rocky Mountains. They occur all along the Mississippi River, especially in Minnesota, also along the Fox River, Illinois, in the trap rocks along the Connecticut River, and on the coast of California. While many of these agates are of great beauty, their use and sale is not likely to be anything more than local, since the Brazilian agates can be supplied so cheaply from Germany. The moss agates of Colorado and other localities in the Rocky Mountains are, however, equal to anything in the world.

The layered structure of agates is due to successive depositions of silica by water flowing through cavities in rocks. Rising and falling alternately through the rocks the water leaves a mark of each advance or retreat in the form of an additional layer deposited upon the interior walls of the cavity. Agates, therefore, grow from the outside inward. The process may go on until the cavity is entirely filled or may cease at any time. If water remains in the cavity for some time crystals, such as are sometimes seen, will be formed. The nodule of silica or agate formed by the percolating waters is harder and more resistant than the surrounding rock. Hence it remains after the surrounding rock has been worn away. We can thus understand why agates should be found, as they usually are, on sea or lake beaches, or in the beds of streams.

The different colors seen in the natural agates are produced by traces of organic matter or of oxides of iron, manganese or titanium contained in the waters which formed them.

The beautiful moss-like inclusions seen in the moss agates are due to a partial crystallization of oxide of manganese or iron contained in the waters. The particles of oxide in these cases arrange themselves in arborescent forms, just as do the particles of frost crystallizing on a window pane.

Agates are not used as extensively as they once were for ornamental purposes. In the years of 1848-50 agate jewelry was very fashionable and was extensively worn. At the present time, however, the principal use of agate in jewelry is for breastpins and watch charms. For ornamental purposes it is used in pen-holders, knife handles, and vases. Its use for large marbles was once quite common, but glass marbles of the same size and still called “agates” are now generally substituted. In fine mechanical work, such as bearings for delicate instruments and in tools for polishing and grinding, agate is still extensively used.

Oliver Cummings Farrington.

MARTYRS OF THE WOODS

Would we miss them, you and I,Would we care if soon should dieEvery single singing birdYou and I have ever heard?Would we miss them from the grass,Through the tangled, deep morass;From the bushes and the trees —Robin, wren and chickadees —Birds of blue and crimson wing;Would we miss the notes they sing;Would we miss the call and cry;Chattering talk as we go by;Nests amid the reeds and grass,Nests swung high above the pass?Do we care that birds must die,Slaughtered daily as they fly?Men will kill while people chooseWings of birds to buy and use;Soon the woods must quiet be;Scarce a bird for minstrelsy.– George Klingle.

A PANSY BED

There is ever so much fun in a pansy bed. If you have never had one, ask your papa or mamma to let you have one this summer. A few dozen plants will give you much pleasure.

There are so many little faces to know among them, and so many little family groups. Some grin at you like monkeys, others scowl, some seem to wink, some smile shyly, while others are curious and open-eyed. There is a white family delicately blue-veined – Colonial Dames, I call them. There are negroes of the darkest hue, Indians, and those that the sun seems to have bronzed. There are groups of Chinamen with their little “yellow kids.” Some are tattooed, and some have striped skin. Many wear ruffled bonnets, and some have beards. The little clusters are so erect and alert on a morning after a heavy dew that they seem like families off for an outing or school children waiting for a snap shot. There are lovely grandmothers wearing purple caps with white frills, and with faces though crinkled and wrinkled yet full of smiles and wisdom. There are sweethearts too, their little heads close together, and they whisper, whisper when the wind goes by.

What do you think? One day from out of my bowl of pansies which I had placed on the lunch table skipped two frisky “yellow kids.” I discovered them hand in hand skipping away. Their little figures were reflected in the polished surface of the table, and they seemed partners out of a Virginia reel. As I put them back in the bowl among their elders, I felt that I had wantonly interrupted a runaway.

Watch how the pansies love the rain! As they seem praying for it with bent heads in dry weather, so they seem a-quiver with thanksgiving after a shower.

There are many things you can do with your pansies. First, though, you must love them. You must teach pussy and the dog not to tramp over them. Every day you must take off all the faded flowers. You must water them and weed them. You will enjoy gathering a bouquet daily for the house, and if anybody is ill, papa or mamma or some one else you love, by all means carry them a bunch of your pansies.

In midsummer, when the fairies have pitched their tents about the sweet-scented bed, the blossoms will have become so many that if grandpa or grandma has a birthday, you can gather seventy or eighty (possibly ninety if you need so many) for a birthday gift. You will not see the fairies about the bed, for they come at midnight, but the dew-sprinkled tents are there, and the cluster of toadstools that the brownies like so well.

Do not forget to give some flowers to the poor children who stand outside your gate, and who wish for some for their very own. The children who have no garden love to look at yours.

Perhaps you have an older sister or brother who paints. If so, they may like some of your pansies to sketch, and to keep in the house in the winter when your real ones are tucked under the earth and snow.

You will find several live things in your flower bed; the bees, the butterflies, and once in a while a humming-bird. Sir Bumble, the bee who looks so heavy and clumsy, touches lightly the pansies, and the pansies like to have him about, for he is so lively and cheery, so do not drive him away. The light yellow and the deep yellow butterflies seem like the pansies themselves, flying off from their stems for a journey about the country. Who knows what the butterflies and the bees tell the flowers, or what messages the flowers send by the flying creatures that pay them visits? When you have pansy beds of your own perhaps you will be able to write me some stories, and then perhaps you can tell me what the butterflies, bees and pansies talk about.

Grace Marion Bryant.

THE MULLEN

Most of the familiar or useful plants have had their origin or characteristics accounted for by myths or legends, whereby the ignorant and superstitious have attempted to explain such features as attracted their attention. Some of these ideas were creditable to the plant, while others were quite the contrary. The Mullen appears to have led a dual existence, seeking an alliance with the spiritual world and at the same time aiding and abetting the witches in their nefarious undertakings.

A very pretty story concerning the Mullen is attributed to the American Indian, but in some regards it seems to be a variant of the Scandinavian Tree of Life myth. It appears that the Great Spirit of the red men lived at the top of a high tree whose branches reached to the heavens; as no mortal could attain to this high attitude, a spirit of the woods, in the guise of a beautiful maiden, took pity upon the people and so fashioning a ladder from the stems of the wild grape vine, she fastened it to a star. In order that the Great Father might not be disturbed, the fair sylvan carpeted the steps of the ladder with the velvet leaves of the Mullen, upon which she noiselessly ascended and descended, bearing the petitions of the red men or bringing to them advice or admonitions.

Of the one hundred and twenty-five species of Mullen that are native to the old world, five have become naturalized in the United States. The Great Mullen (Verbascum thapsus), so familiar in dry, open fields, was originally christened by Pliny and has since received over forty English names of a less classical origin and significance. The name Verbascum is supposed to be derived from Berbascum, meaning a beard. Pliny doubtless selected this name, either because of the hairs on the stems of the plants or on account of the silky character of the leaves. The specific name, thapsus, is said to have been added, as the plants grew in considerable numbers in the vicinity of Thapsus.

One of the significant but impracticable common names of the Great Mullen is Hag-taper. The plant gained this unpleasant appellation by reason of the fact that if any one steps on a young Mullen plant after sundown, the witches will ride him as a horse until morning, lighting the way with Mullen stalks used for torches. These torches were also employed at the meetings of the hags and witches, when the leaves of the plant were an important element in the concoctions prepared in their cauldrons. Another name is Hare’s Beard, illustrating a class of plants that have weird names because of some fancied likeness to animals. The name Cow’s Lungwort, arose from the resemblance between the leaf and the dewlap of a cow, from which it was argued that the plant must be a specific for lung diseases. In England, where the Mullen is known as Blanket Leaf, the dried leaf is tied around the throat in cases of colds. It is believed that the leaf sets up a mild irritation which will be beneficial. The dried stalks of the plants were often used for torches at funerals which gave rise to the names High or Hedge Torch. The Great Mullen varies in height from two to seven feet. The stem is stout, very woolly, with branching hairs. The oblong, pale green, velvety leaves form a rosette on the ground or alternately clasp the stem. The flowers, which are about an inch in diameter, are clustered around a thick, dense spike, and have two long and three short stamens, so arranged as to materially assist the process of cross fertilization which is largely carried on by bees. It is interesting to note in connection with the thick woolly covering of the plant that many vegetable forms are so protected when exposed to intense heat or cold. This is true of most alpine and desert forms and the value of such a protection to the Mullen will be seen when it is remembered that the plants are always found in open, dry, stony fields exposed to the fierce heat of the sun, and afforded no protection for the rosettes of year-old plants which must survive the winter in order to send up the flower stalk the second spring.

The Moth Mullen (Verbascum blattaria) is a far more attractive and graceful plant than the form previously described. The specific name was derived from the idea that the plant would kill the cockroach (Blatta). It was supposed that moths would not go near the plant, and it was quite a general custom in New England to pack these plants or flowers with clothing or furs in order to keep out moths. The stamens are similar to those of the Great Mullen, except the filaments are tufted with violet hairs. The flowers are yellow or white on long, loose racemes. The erect, slender stem is usually about two feet in height, and as a rule there are no leaves present at the flowering time.

Charles S. Raddin.

THE CALL OF THE PARTRIDGE

The fields are wet, the fields are green,All things are glad and growing,And fresh and cool across the poolThe gentle wind is blowing.Tho’ humid clouds yet fill the sky,The rain has ceased its falling,And from his rail across the swale,I hear the partridge calling,The spotted partridge calling.Through the silence not a noteHis listening ear is greeting.But hear! O hear – how loud and clearHis call he is repeating,What pleading lingers in his tone,What tenderness revealing.O, soft and sweet across the wheat,A timid answer’s stealing,The timid answer’s stealing.– Belle Hitchcock.

JIM CROW AND HIS COUSINS

While much can be said about the beauty and grace of birds of brilliant plumage and those of soul-stirring song, there is as much to be written concerning those noted for their sagacity and cunning. Some have selected the parrot as the model in this particular and the choice is not a mistake.

There is, however, a tribe which all may observe more or less, while a story relating to their habits or pranks will ever find willing listeners. The Crow is the best known of this genus, and grouped with him are the chough, the raven, the rook and the jackdaw. All of these may be tamed, and afterward may be taught to use the language of man.

The plumage of the Crow in the northern parts of the world is black, and we are so accustomed to that color that to speak of a white or of a spotted Crow might subject one to ridicule, yet in many parts of the world such Crows are found. Some are gray and black, and some species are larger than others. They are characterized by a comparatively short tail, long wings, and a strong, rather conical beak.

Crows are distinguished from ravens by their smaller size, and by the feathers of the neck blending with those of the body, while on the ravens, the neck feathers are pointed and distinct. The Crow family is widely distributed, but Crows, as properly understood, are mainly inhabitants of the north temperate zone. They are intelligent, wary birds (when persecuted), and are practically omnivorous, feeding upon fish, fowl, eggs, snakes, frogs, crabs, shell-fish, grubs, fruits, seeds and berries. The common Crow of North America is particularly abundant in the Eastern United States, and is looked upon as the inveterate foe of the farmer on account of the amount of injury he inflicts on growing crops, and especially upon corn. There is, however, a credit side to the account in the destruction of grubs; but as the Crow is by nature such a pilferer, he must be regarded as harmful in many ways.

In the fall and winter these glossy birds assemble by thousands in great roosts, or rookeries; one of these roosts on the Potomac above Washington has been estimated to harbor 40,00 °Crows, while others are still larger. In the gray of the morning the birds leave in clamorous crowds for their feeding-grounds, often many miles away, and in the afternoon may be seen winging their way homeward in long lines, high above the earth in fair weather, low down in foul. The eastern fish crow, frequently found in company with the others, is a smaller bird, and can readily be distinguished by its hoarse caw.

The Carrion Crow of Europe and Asia closely resembles the North American Crow in form, size and habits, but is perhaps a little more destructive, attacking and killing lambs, or even weakly sheep. The Hooded Crow, found in northern and eastern Europe and in many parts of Asia, is gray, with black head, throat, wings and tail. The Gray-necked Crow of India is a small but bold and mischievous species, often stealing the very food from the table. On the other hand, it does much good as a scavenger, forming an able adjunct to the vultures in this respect.

An interesting story is told of a Crow of this species which had been tamed and petted until it behaved much as would a spoiled child. “Old Crusty,” as he was called, would actually take the food away from the dog while he was eating, not by open encounter, for that would have deprived him of his fun. But he would tease the poor canine until he barked from vexation, then snatch up the prey and triumphantly bear it off to a neighboring tree, where he ate it at his leisure, while the dog stood looking at him and uselessly venting his rage in loud, threatening barks.

The annual “muster” of the Crows, like that of blackbirds, is a scene very amusing, as well as mysterious. It has been my privilege to witness a few such gatherings, but to me there seemed more noise than meaning. It is said by naturalists, however, that the most extraordinary meetings of the Crows occur in northern Scotland. There they collect in great numbers, as if they had all been summoned for the occasion; a few of the flock sit with drooping heads, and others seem grave as judges, while others again are exceedingly active and noisy. One authority says: “These meetings will sometimes continue for a day or so before the object, whatever it may be, is completed. Crows continue to arrive from all quarters during the session. As soon as all have arrived a very general noise ensues, and shortly after the whole fall upon one or two individuals and put them to death. When the execution has been performed they quietly disperse.”

The Chough is a red-legged Crow and is one of the most mischievous birds of his genus. He carefully examines everything he finds, then carries it away if he can. And if there be a collection of anything to which he has access, he is sure to scatter it in all directions. Those which have been converted into pets have proven very affectionate, but they are easily offended and will often vent their spite in a most annoying yet very amusing manner.

The Raven is very much like the Crow in his habits, but is more given to fighting and to burglary than his shy cousin. He is a great tease, also, and will often attack children and even grown up people just for fun. By this it can be seen that the Raven is more susceptible to taming than the Crow, while no old Crow can steal so many articles or hide them as completely as the Raven. They are quick to make friends with dog or man, but, like the Chough, are very troublesome foes when once offended.

The Rook is a European bird, and though the farmer recognizes in him a destroyer of his young crops, he must admit that without the Rook he would save little or none of his crop. Worms constitute the favorite food of this bird, wherefore many a husbandman has learned that it is best to endure the disadvantages of a rookery merely for the sake of his harvests. For one queer habit of Rooks is that they will frequent the same spot all their lives, and it is next to impossible to dislodge them from their abode.

The Jackdaws are the boldest of the genus, and have a very remarkable “don’t care” look. They frequent high towers, hollow trees, and even appropriate to their own use the loftiest parts of the English castles. They choose their mates for life, and do not live in communities. They assemble in flocks, however, when cherries begin to ripen and will soon rob a tree if the owner is not on guard.

An amusing story is told of a tame Jackdaw. While pilfering one day he found a half-glass of whisky which had been left upon a table, and on tasting it, he liked it so much that he drank a quantity. In a few moments symptoms of intoxication began to appear; his wings dropped and his eyes were half-closed. He staggered towards the edge of the table, probably intending to fly to the floor, but he had either lost the power of his wings or he was afraid to trust them. He stood, seemingly meditating what he should do, all the while reeling like a drunken man about to lose his balance. Presently his eyes were shut and he fell over on his back with his legs in the air, exhibiting every sign of death.

An attempt was made to put some water down his throat, but he could not swallow it. He was then rolled in a piece of flannel, laid in a box and locked away in a closet. All the family, with whom he was a great pet, never expected to see him on his legs again. Next morning about six o’clock the door was opened, with the expectation of finding Jackie dead, but he had freed himself from the flannel and as soon as the door was open he flew out and hurried away to a basin-shaped stone, out of which the fowls drank, and copiously allayed his thirst. He repeated this several times that day and was none the worse for his exploit, but, with more forbearance than those who are endowed with reason, he never again would touch whisky.

Claudia May Ferrin.

COCOA

(Theobroma cacao, L.)

The wretch shall feelThe giddy motion of the whirling mill,In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow,And tremble at the sea that froths below!– Pope, “Rape of the Lock,” ii, 135.

The cocoa-yielding plant is a tree varying from fifteen to forty feet in height. The main stem or trunk is much twisted and knotty, from which the branches stand out almost horizontally. The bark is thick, rough and of a cinnamon brown color. The leaves are alternate, large, smooth, entire, and of a deep green color. Flowers occur singly, more usually in clusters, from those parts of the branches and trunk formerly corresponding to the axils of leaves. Calyx deeply five-cleft, pale red. Petals pink. Fruit solitary or several together, pendulous, large, pear-shaped; each pericarp enclosing numerous brown seeds about the size of a hickory nut or almond, from which the chocolate and cocoa are made.

The chocolate tree is a native of Mexico, Central America, Brazil and other South American countries. It is now extensively cultivated in most tropical countries of both hemispheres. The West Indian islands have numerous large plantations. It is also found in botanic gardens and greenhouses. There are several cultivation varieties.