Kitabı oku: «Birds and Nature, Vol. 12 No. 2 [July 1902]», sayfa 4

THE GRASSHOPPER SPARROW
(Ammodramus savannarum passerinus.)

Of all the bird voices of the meadow, for its interesting originality and its effect in ensemble, we can least spare that of the little Grasshopper Sparrow. – R. M. Silloway, in “Sketches of Some Common Birds.”

This little bird of the meadow and hayfield is quite easily identified by the marked yellow color at the shoulders of the wings, the yellowish color of the lesser wing coverts, the buff colored breast and the orange colored line before the eyes. Its home is on the ground, where its retiring habits lead it to seek the protecting cover of tall grass and other herbage. As it is not often seen except when flushed or when it rises to the rail of a fence or to the top of a tall spear of grass to utter its peculiar song, it is often considered rare. It is, however, a common bird in many localities of its range, which covers the whole of eastern North America, where it builds, upon the ground, its nest of grass lined with hair and a few feathers. It nests as far north as Massachusetts and Minnesota and winters in the southern states and the adjacent islands.

This bird was given the name Grasshopper Sparrow from the fancied resemblance of its weak cherup – “a peculiar monotonous song” – to the shrilling produced by the long-horned grasshopper. However, the song often begins and ends with a faint warble. Mr. Chapman says that these notes “may be written pit túck zee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e.”

Mr. Silloway writes at length and enthusiastically of the Grasshopper Sparrow. He says, “To the sympathetic ear the voice of the humble Grasshopper Sparrow is as necessary to the harmony of the meadow overture as the clear piping of the meadow lark or the jingling triangle of the bobolink. The leading instruments of the orchestra usually receive our attention, yet the accompanying pieces are chiefly responsible for the resulting harmony. Taken alone, the notes of the minor parts are harsh and unmelodious, but sounded in time and accord with the cornet, the first violin, and the double bass, they assist in producing an effect delightful and harmonious. Thus it is with the voices of our little accompanist in the mottled brown coat. Heard alone at close station, it is seemingly shrill and unmusical; but in the midst of expanded verdure, following the lead of the meadow voices, its noonday crooning produces a dreamy harmony perfectly in accord with the thoughts of the listener.”

The name of this little bird is not only appropriate because of its song but also on account of its food. In the examination of one hundred and seventy stomachs, Dr. Sylvester D. Judd found that the contents contained sixty-three per cent of animal matter, twenty-three per cent of which consisted of the remains of grasshoppers. His investigations covered a period of eight months. Thus during that period these insects formed nearly one-fourth of the total diet of the birds examined. He also discovered that during the month of June, the greatest number of grasshoppers was eaten and formed about sixty per cent of the stomach contents.

In rural districts it is seldom called a sparrow and is more commonly called Grass-bird, Ground-bird or Grasshopper-bird. Another appropriate name is Yellow-winged Sparrow. All these names well portray its habits and characteristics. Its flights are short and rapid, but “on the ground or in the grass it runs like meadow mice to elude the presence and notice of intruders.”

The Grasshopper Sparrow is an adept in leading an intruder from the vicinity of its nest. The male seldom utters its song close by its brooding mate, and either bird when disturbed in the vicinity of their home will skulk through the grass for some distance and, if necessity of refuge requires flight, will rise from a point sufficiently far away to mislead the intruder.

Both sexes bear the responsibilities of brooding and their home life seems to be one round of contentment. “Although the male seeks to win the affections of his lady love by persistently shrilling near her the story of his passion he generally represses his love trills near the home which his mistress has established. * * * Cheer her he must, however, and so he trills throughout the day from fancied situations within her hearing, yet safely removed from the guarded spot.”

A HAPPY FAMILY

“Papa” is now the name of our college rooster, his hereditary name, however, having been the “Duke of Wellington,” since he always claimed that he descended from renowned English stock. Be all that as it may, he is a handsome bird of portly proportions and of deep orange and golden plumage. He sports a superb mural crown and has brilliant eyes ever on the watch for the welfare of his numerous family of wives and children. Altogether he is a domestic hero and steps as proudly as ever Hector trod the plains of ancient Troy, while his clarion voice wakes the morning echoes for miles around.

Now, the reason why our big rooster is called Papa springs from quite a novel circumstance all his own and which has been for some time the town talk among the Four Hundred of our poultry social circles. The curious affair was strictly in this wise: Late last fall, or, to be more definite, about the middle of November, one of our little hens, “Biddy the Bantam,” stole her nest, as old housewives would put it, in the adjoining thicket, and in the fullness of time brought off an even dozen as bright, cherry chicks as ever gladdened the heart of a mother partlet.

As soon as the chickens could nimbly walk the provident hen led them to the rear of the college kitchen to be properly fed.

Now it may suffice to enhance the interest of our story and perhaps make several points more clearly understood by the casual reader to say, or rather to delicately intimate, sub rosa, of course, that Biddy the Bantam was not the real mother pure and simple of all the chickens she had so industriously hatched and brought off her fern embowered nest. As it often happens in the best regulated poultry yards, several other and bigger hens had smuggled their own eggs into Biddy’s nest; a fact which would certainly have been a foregone conclusion in a few days from the difference in size of the chickens if for no other reason. I am sorry to say, however, that when the truth leaked out it was an every day scandal from one end of the poultry yard to the other. But Biddy the Bantam, like the brave little mother she was, pondered these things in her heart, lived down the wicked calumny and raised her family despite the alleged illegitimacy of three or four of the longer legged youngsters.

It was determined by the college authorities that everything should be done for the comfort of the rather untimely brood notwithstanding the lateness of the season and the threatened cold weather. To this end mother and chicks were put into a nice warm dry goods box with plenty of soft hay for a bed, and the whole establishment placed under the south veranda of our main building.

Well, with plenty of food the chickens grew, Biddy the Bantam was happy, and all went along nicely till quite lately, when the chickens, having become about a quarter grown, it was discovered that Biddy could not cover them all at the same time, exert herself as best she might. Hence on each frosty morning it was evident that the chickens had suffered a good deal during the night. Their cries could be heard late at night and early in the morning as they crowded each other out into the bitter cold, the stronger ones striving to secure the warmest place under mamma’s soft feather coverlet.

Now a dire emergency had come and something had to be done, and done it was in a most mysterious manner; and herein, also, is contained the gist of our story. The grievous complaint of the chickens came to a sudden discontinuation. Did the little hen mother in her deep affliction appeal to Sir Duke, the big rooster, for advice and succor? The sequel would certainly argue in favor of such a conclusion, for now he comes regularly every evening at early candle light, squeezes his bulky form through the bars of the coop, sits down by the side of Biddy the Bantam and spreads his broad wings over more than half of the chickens. Peace, indeed, has returned and there are no more family jars in that little household.

It is a pleasant pastime to take a lantern and make a social evening call at the coop after Papa and Biddy have put their children to sleep. The most amusing thing of all is to hear the old rooster talk to the chickens. Thus, if anything goes wrong, any naughty crowding or some little foot trodden upon so as to cause an outcry, Papa slowly rises, shakes out his feathers, readjusts his great spreading toes, pokes in with his beak any little protruding head and then settles down again, all the while talking and saying in plain chicken lingo, “There, little dears, now nestle down and go to sleep.”

In conclusion I will say to the readers of Birds and Nature that this little story is no fancy sketch but a true recital of events that took place at Vashon College while I was a member of the faculty of that institution. The chanticleer of every farmyard is a noble bird and a hero in his own sovereign right.

L. Philo Venen.

THE DAMSEL FLY

This is a small insect – that is it is smaller than some of the dragon flies, to which order – Odonata – it belongs. It is of more gentle habits and not so swift of wing as the dragon fly. It was the French writers who gave it the name it bears, while some English authorities placed it along with the dragons. Howard says they are seldom found far from the stream or pond where they are born, yet I have two or three varieties that I caught on the prairie some miles from any water. Their wings are not held horizontally, but are folded parallel with their bodies. This facilitates the backing down the stem of a plant or reed when the female wishes to deposit her eggs below the surface of the water, which is usually the place for incubation. The wings are gauze like, some nearly black, others with a beautiful metallic luster. They are not so savage as the dragons, although one I took last summer held on to the threads of the net until it nearly severed them, and bit at my fingers in a most savage manner.

Alvin M. Hendee.

FELDSPAR

Feldspar is the family name of several minerals closely related and indeed grading into each other, but distinguished by mineralogists by separate specific terms. These minerals are all silicates of aluminum, with some alkali or alkali earth, having a hardness of about 6 in the scale in which quartz is 7 and a specific gravity varying from 2.5 to 2.7. They are fusible with difficulty before the blowpipe, crystallize in the monoclinic or triclinic system and cleave in two well-marked directions nearly or quite at right angles to each other. It is this latter property, probably, which led to the grouping of these minerals as spar, since this term is applied in common language to any minerals which break with bright crystalline surfaces. Thus calc spar is a common name for calcite, heavy spar for barite, needle spar for aragonite, and so on. The term field spar, of which Feldspar is probably a corruption, was perhaps given the minerals of this group because of their widespread occurrence. The English spelling of the word is Felspar. The Feldspars form an essential part of nearly all eruptive rocks and by their decomposition produce clays and other soils which may harden into great areas of sedimentary rocks. They are thus of great geological importance and interest. Usually the white crystals to be seen in an eruptive rock in contrast to the dark green or black of the pyroxene or hornblende, or the glassy, nearly colorless quartz, are Feldspar. The Feldspar may, however, contain more or less iron and then take on a flesh color or become even darker. Feldspar crystals can best be recognized by their prominent cleavage, which appears as numerous bright flat surfaces extending in any given crystal in the same direction. The crystals, while they may be of so minute dimensions as to be visible only with the microscope, may on the other hand reach in veins in coarse-grained granites a length of a foot or more.

As ornamental stones only certain varieties of Feldspar are valued and their value depends on accidents of color or structure. The first of the Feldspars which may be mentioned as being prized as an ornamental stone is amazonstone or green Feldspar. This in composition is what is called a potash Feldspar, potash being the alkali which in combination with alumina and silica goes to make up the mineral. The percentages of each in a pure amazonstone are silica 64.7, alumina 18.4 and potash 16.9. The mineralogical name of the species is micro-cline, meaning small inclination, and refers to the fact that the angle between the two cleavages of the mineral is not quite a right angle. The common color of microcline is white to pale yellow, but occasionally green and red occur.

It is only to the green variety that the name of amazonstone is applied, a name meaning stone from the Amazon river. It first referred probably to jade or some such green stone from that locality and then came to include green Feldspar. No occurrence of green Feldspar in that region is now known.

Practically all the amazonstone now used for ornamental purposes comes from three localities. These are the vicinity of Miask in the Ural Mountains, Pike’s Peak, Colorado, and Amelia Court House, Virginia. In all these places the amazonstone occurs in coarse-grained granite and is closely accompanied by quartz and Feldspar. All gradations are found in color from the deep green to white, only the bright green being prized for ornamental purposes. The Feldspar is usually well crystallized and crystals of several pounds weight may be found. A crystal will rarely be of a uniform color, streaks of paler green or white being commonly present. Only the uniformly colored portions are prized for ornamental purposes. The green often takes on a bluish tone and blue sometimes even predominates. The color is doubtless due to some organic matter, as it disappears, leaving the stone white, on heating. The stone is always opaque. Its use is not extensive, its sale being greater to tourists in the vicinity of the regions where it is found than to gem cutters. Several other localities in the United States besides those mentioned afford the mineral, though not in large quantities. It occurs in two or three localities in North Carolina; in Paris, Maine; Mount Desert, Maine; Rockport, Massachusetts; and Delaware county, Pennsylvania. The finest comes from the Pike’s Peak locality. Mr. G. F. Kunz states in regard to these crystals that when they were first exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 they were a great surprise to Russian dealers who had brought over some amazonstone from the Urals, expecting to sell it at what would now be considered fabulously high prices.

The second species of Feldspar which may be mentioned as of use as an ornamental stone is labradorite. This differs in composition from amazonstone in containing soda and lime in place of potash, the percentages in a typical labradorite being, silica 53.7, alumina 29.6, lime 11.8 and soda 4.8. Labradorite has the typical cleavage of Feldspar and cleavage surfaces in the direction of easiest cleavage are usually marked by rows of parallel striae. These show that the mass is made up of a series of crystal twins in parallel position and afford an excellent criterion for determining a triclinic Feldspar. Labradorite is a common rock-forming mineral, especially in the older rocks. It is only, however, when it occurs in large pieces which exhibit a play of colors that it is prized as an ornamental stone. The labradorite exhibiting the latter property in the most remarkable degree and hence most valued is that found on the coast of Labrador near Nain and the adjacent island of St. Paul. It was first found here by a Moravian missionary named Wolfe and brought to Europe in the year 1775. It occurs together with the form of pyroxene known as hypersthene, in a coarse-grained granite, or perhaps a gneiss. From these it is weathered out by wave and atmospheric action and occurs as beach pebbles. It is also mined from veins. Labradorite of pleasing color and opalescence occurs in a few other localities in Canada, and in Essex county, New York, in the United States. Two localities occur in Russia, one near St. Petersburg and the other in the region of Kiew. The labradorite of the latter locality is the better, its occurrence being in a coarse-grained gabbro. The Labrador occurrence exceeds all others, however, in abundance and beauty and by far the larger quantity used in the arts comes from there. The play of colors which gives labradorite its attractiveness is rarely seen to advantage except upon a polished surface, but whether polished or unpolished it only appears when the surface is held at a particular angle with reference to the eye. Emerson thus describes it in his essay on Experience as illustrating the limitations of the individual: “A man is like a bit of Labrador spar, which has no lustre as you turn it in your hand until you come to a particular angle; then it shows deep and beautiful colors.”

The play of colors seen in labradorite is not like that of the opal, which presents to the eye fragments of different colors varying in different positions, but appears as broad surfaces of a single color. It is only rarely that these colors change with a change of position. Bauer remarks that the appearance is similar to that seen on the wings of some tropical butterflies. The colors over any given surface are not necessarily alike, but more than two or three tints are rare. Each tint is uniform where it occurs. A surface may be interspersed with many spots exhibiting no sheen. Both colored and uncolored portions have only vague outlines and merge into each other at the edges. Bauer mentions a labradorite from Russia the colored portions of which formed a striking likeness of Louis XVI, the head being a beautiful blue against a gold green background, while above appeared a beautiful garnet red crown. Excellent effects are sometimes produced in labradorite by cutting it in the form of cameos so as to make the base of different color from the figure in relief. Of the different colors shown by labradorite blue and green are the most common, yellow and red least so. These colors are regarded by Vogelsang as of different origin, the blue being, in his opinion, a polarization phenomenon due to the lamellar structure of the Feldspar, and the yellows and reds the result of the reflection of light from minute included crystals of magnetite, hematite and ilmenite. These lying in parallel position in great numbers in the labradorite give the colors.