THE OSPREY. 



U 



grating species, the latter generally do not reacli 

 the breeding grounds until from four to six 

 weeks after the arrival of the former. The late 



comers are often joined by their mates in a day 

 or two. 



That birds seek the same locality where they 

 nested the year before is evident. It is no un- 

 common occurrence for a pair of a certain species 

 to occupy the same nest, located in some peculiar 

 and unusual place, for years in succession, in- 

 dicating that they at least belong to the same 

 family. Albinos and specimens otherwise 



marked have been know to build in the same 

 vicinity year after year. The avi-fauna of the 

 East differs from that of the West. The Western 

 bluebird does not have the cinnamon breast: the 

 golden-shafted flicker is replaced in the West by 

 the red-shafted; the whip-poor-will, by the poor- 

 will; the nighthawk, meadow lark, bobolink, 

 crow blackbird, house wren, grass finch, phoebe, 

 wood pewee, chipping sparrow, and many addi- 

 tional species, by Western congeners. Although 

 all these varieties mingle together durin.g winter 

 in the lower Mississippi Valley, in Mexico and 

 Central America, each returns again to the are.^ 

 from whence it came. Slight variations in size, 

 form, and color have been detected in some 

 species inhabiting different sections of the same 

 State, which would not be perpetuated if the 

 same birds did not return to their native grounds. 

 Possessed, as we are to-day. of so much scien- 

 tific knowledge, it seems strange to us that the 

 migration of birds, like many another now well- 

 known fact, is a discovery of the present century. 

 When Gilbert White, about a hundred years 

 ago, wrote the letters which constitute "The 

 Natural History of Selborne," the question re- 

 lating to the disappearance of the birds in autumn 

 was under discussion among the naturalists of 

 the world. Most of them appear to have been 

 of the opinion that the swallows burrow into the 

 mud. like frogs, at the bottoms of ponds; and 

 that other birds hibernate, like bats, in caves and 

 hollow trees. 



ELKS PHOTOGRAPHED IN MID-AIR. 



WE are indebted to Mr. Will H. Barnes, 

 of Sioux City. la., for a photograph of 

 his jumping Elks, here given, in which 

 one of the Elks is shown in mid-air. The photo- 

 graph is an e.xcellent illustration of a remarkable 

 feat. Air. Barnes first undertook to break his 

 Elks to drive in harness, which was accomplished 

 after a year's time. It was while he was en- 

 gaged in this preliminary instruction that he 

 conceived the idea of teaching them to dive, hav- 

 ing observed the readiness and utter fearless- 

 ness with which they went over a high bank into 

 the Siou.x River, taking Mr. Barnes with them 

 nmch against his will. From that time he con- 

 centrated his effort on teaching them to jump, 

 sparing neither time nor energy that his favor- 

 ites might become skilled divers. 



Their first plunge was made from a chute 

 at a height of about five feet above the water, 

 and for some time his effort was directed toward 

 inducing them to dive from this height easily 

 and of their own accord. When the weather in 

 Iowa became too cold for his pets' daily plunges, 

 he sought warmer waters in the South, and con- 

 tinued his teaching in Louisiana. By the end 

 of the first winter spent in the South the Elks 

 had learned to jump from a hei.ght of twenty 

 feet, and were beginning to bring fame to them- 

 selves and to their owner. 



Ringlette became rather the more expert, and 

 soon learned the best and safest way to make 

 the dives, striking the water head foremost with 

 front feet extended. The buck Elk, Ring, is not 



far behind, however, and will soon dive with 

 equal expertness. 



when .vlr. Barnes began training these animals 



THE JUMPING 1,1.1.:;. 



he had no idea of the success he would attain 

 or the sensation their work would create. As he 

 himself says, it has been his hobby, and he has 

 kept at it for the love of animals and in the de- 

 sire to see to how hieh a point of perfection their 

 training can be carried. — Ed. 



