Birds and Nature, Vol. 12 No. 2 [July 1902]

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.

The gems known as moonstone and sunstone owe the play of colors which gives them their respective names to similar causes. These gems are generally some form of Feldspar, although any mineral giving a similar sheen of color might be included under them. The moonstone of commerce comes chiefly from Ceylon, where it occurs in large pieces the size of a fist in a clay resulting from the decomposition of a porphyritic rock. Pieces of these when polished exhibit the beautiful pale blue light coming from within which makes the stone prized as a gem. The cause of this light is undoubtedly minute tabular crystals lying in parallel position through the stone.

The stone varies from translucent to opaque, and from colorless to white, the essential feature being the blue opalescent light or chatoyancy exhibited from a polished surface. Good moonstones are worth from three to five dollars a carat.

The Ceylon moonstone is sometimes known as Ceylon opal, but it is the variety of Feldspar known as orthoclase, which is a potash Feldspar, differing from the microcline just described in being monoclinic in crystallization and in having two cleavages meeting at right angles. Another species of Feldspar used as moonstone is albite. This is a soda Feldspar and is triclinic, but exhibits the color characteristic of moonstone. One variety is known as peristerite, from the Greek word for pigeon, and is applied on account of the resemblance of the sheen to that of a pigeon’s neck. It is found at Macomb, St. Lawrence county, New York. Albite found at Mineral Hill, Pennsylvania, also exhibits the chatoyancy of moonstone. Amelia Court House, Virginia, is another locality whence come pieces either of orthoclase or oligoclase exhibiting this property. Like most of the more or less opaque gems, moonstone is cut chiefly in the rounded form known as en cabochon. It is of late, however, cut in the form of balls, which are quite popular, the bringing of good luck being attributed to them. The brilliancy of moonstone is considerably increased by mounting it against black.

Sunstone is the term by which those kinds of Feldspar are known which reflect a spangled yellow light. The appearance comes from minute crystals of iron oxide, hematite or gothite, which are included in the stone and both reflect the light and give it a reddish color. Like labradorite the sheen is visible only when the stone is held at a certain angle. Some specimens of the mineral carnallite, which is a chloride of potassium and magnesium, exhibit a similar sheen, and being soluble in water the crystals of hematite can be separated out. They are then seen to be perfect little hexagons of a blood-red color. The sheen of sunstone is best visible when the stone is held in the sunlight or strong artificial light. The variety of Feldspar to which the sunstone most in use at the present time belongs is oligoclase, a soda-lime triclinic Feldspar. Like labradorite it usually exhibits on the surface of easiest cleavage parallel striations due to twinning structure. The best sunstone at the present time comes from Tvedestrand, in southern Norway, where it occurs in compact masses together with white quartz, in veins, in gneiss. Some also comes from Hittero, Norway. In Werchne Udinsk, Siberia, another occurrence was discovered in 1831. Previous to this Bauer states that all the sunstone known came from the Island of Sattel in the White Sea, and was very costly, although of a quality which would not now be deemed desirable. At the present time, although stones of fine quality can be obtained, sunstone is little used in jewelry, and its market value is very low. Statesville, North Carolina, and Delaware county, Pennsylvania, are two localities in the United States where good sunstone has been obtained.

Both sunstone and moonstone can be accurately imitated in glass and the distinction of the artificial from the real by ocular examination alone would be almost impossible. Glass, however, lacks the cleavage of Feldspar and is somewhat heavier and softer. The discovery of the method of making artificial sunstone is said to have been accidental, and was made at Murano, near Venice, when a quantity of brass filings by chance fell into a pot of melted glass. The product was for a long time and is still used in the arts under the name of goldstone. Sunstone is sometimes known as aventurine Feldspar, in distinction from aventurine quartz, which presents a similar appearance, owing to the inclusion of scales of mica. The term aventurine is from the Italian avventura, meaning chance, and refers to the chance discovery above referred to.

Gems are occasionally cut from other forms of Feldspar than those here described, which are transparent and colorless and valued for their lustre. The varieties chiefly employed in this manner are adularia, a variety of orthoclase which is often transparent, the best specimens being obtained in Switzerland, and oligoclase, in the transparent form in which it is found near Bakersville, North Carolina.

Oliver Cummings Farrington.

THE WOOD HARMONY

Who knows the dim, least-traveled wayWhere wood-folk keep their holiday;Who knows the paths of little careWhereon the thicket-dwellers fare,Let him be heedful, lest he wakeUnfriendly echoes in the brake,Or dare, with alien thought, to findHis way among the timid kind.Let him beware, then, for they knowThe subtle footsteps of a foe.But all the wee wood-fellows spareSuch welcome as they ever shareTo him who finds in dale and dellThat undefined, familiar spellThat greets the faith prepared to meetA faith as beautiful and sweet.– Frank Walcott Hutt.

THE COTTAGE BY THE WOOD

It was my good fortune to spend some months in a cozy little cottage in a suburban district, the natural surroundings of which were such as to at once appeal to a naturalist, aside from furnishing ample opportunity for rest and quiet. The large lawn belonging to the property, with its abundance of shade trees, fronted on the main avenue of a populous corporate town, while in the rear was a strip of woodland, which in turn was bordered by a clearing covered mainly by briars and thick low bushes, its whole length being intersected by a winding brook.

Birds in the locality were quite numerous and some of them showed remarkable tameness. During the hours of night time, giving voice as it were to the weird lights and shadows around the house, we could hear the mournful ditty of a screech owl whose home was in a nearby hickory tree, while the first gray streak of each returning dawn was heralded by the sweet songs of the robins. Flickers were frequently seen hopping around in the grass near the roots of various trees; the notes of the yellow-billed cuckoo were also heard in the thick foliage of the maples: redeyed vireos kept up a continual warbling all day long and doubtless had a nest in the vicinity, as we observed the mother bird feeding two very young ones; the latter being perched in a low bush in the yard. The happy song of the house wrens was always in evidence and three nests were built under the porch roof. I personally observed one of the broods leaving the nest and was surprised to see two of their number climb up the straight trunk of a wild cherry tree – genuine woodpecker fashion – for a distance of twelve or fifteen feet, where the limbs began to branch out. However, they arrived at the top safely and remained there for the balance of the day.

Humming birds often came and hovered over the many beautiful flowers in the yard, and sometimes consented to alight for a few minutes for our benefit. On one of these occasions a party of five (including my baby daughter) approached to within three feet of the flower stalk upon which our little visitor was perched; still it sat there, turning its wee head this way and that, looking at us with fearless unconcern. At last it gave a sharp chirp, flew, and was soon lost to sight. On one occasion in the early morning, we were greeted with the familiar call “Bob White,” which seemed to come from the woods in the rear of the yard. The call was repeated several times, but we were unable to discover the author of it. A tree of fine red cherries proved a great attraction for cat birds and other feathered fruit lovers. But what we considered the greatest privilege, and one which was exceedingly enjoyed, was the daily greeting of the wood thrushes during the breakfast hour. What could be more charming than to sit leisurely eating the morning meal and all the while listening to the sweet, clear strains of the loveliest bird songs pouring from the throats of the russet-brown vocalists just outside the kitchen window, peal after peal, in endless volume and variation. In addition to the birds already mentioned we sometimes heard the shrill scream of the blue jay, also the notes of the king birds and crested flycatchers, while from the distance, floating to us from across some field or meadow, came the morning praises of a meadow lark or the well known call of the kildeer. The crows also added their deep caw-caw-caw to the chorus of woodland voices. The clearing above referred to proved to be the home of two or three species of the warbler family, and a walk through the vicinity the following winter revealed a number of nests. They were all placed low, and one of them showed every indication of having been built and occupied by an oven bird.