^1 



I go 



THE MUSEUM. 



The canvasback is a tireless diver 

 and is also a glutton for the celery. 

 The widgeon knows this, so he is for- 

 ever hanging about near the feeding 

 canvasback. When the larger duck 

 rises to the surface with a root the 

 alert widgeon snatches the prize and 

 makes off before the honest worker 

 has had time to apprehend what has 

 happened. This playful eccentricity 

 is the cause of considerable squab- 

 bling between the two species, but as 

 the widgeon is crafty in action and 

 swift in retreat he usually escapes with 

 his ill-gotten booty and is ready to re- 

 peat the theft at the first < nportuniry. 

 The habit is the more curl ms because 

 there is no question about the canvas- 

 back's ability to thrash the widgeon in 

 short order should he ever catch him. 

 — Ed. IV. Sandys in Outing for Oc- 

 tober. 



The Hummingbird. 



One of the most wonderful charac- 

 teristics of the hummingbird says Prof. 

 O. B. Knight in the Maine Sports- 

 man, is its ability to move backward 

 in its flight, said to be the only in- 

 stance in which a bird is able to ac- 

 complish that movement. Prof. 

 Rideway says this movement is great- 

 ly assisted by a forward motion of the 

 bird's expanded tail. The gaudy and 

 rich plumage of the hummingbirds 

 makes them tempting prizes for the 

 collectors of bird skins, and it is, 

 therefore, not strange they are slaught- 

 ered in such multitudes. Vast num- 

 bers are slain in Mexico and South 

 America, being killed with fine shot or 

 caught with nets and line. On ac- 

 count of this ruthless destruction some 

 species are said to be on the verg^ of 

 extinction, and, of course, it will be 

 the most beautiful kinds that will be 

 exterminated first. At a sale held in 

 London on March 21, 1888, more 

 than 12,000 hummer skins were dis- 

 posed of, and in one week 40,000 

 hummers and other American birds 

 were sold in London at auction. A 

 brilliant hummer, flitting airily amid 



the foliage and flowers, is "a thing of 

 beauty and a joy forever.' On a wo- 

 man's bonnet such a decoration is lit- 

 tle short of garish. All the colors of 

 the spectrum, with many intermingled 

 tints, are combined in their plumage, 

 so that some of them seem to be truly 

 a kaleidoscope. One of the most 

 striking ornaments of many of the 

 hummers is the "gorget," as it is call- 

 ed — that is, a gleaming throat patch 

 of imbrificated feathers. In the com- 

 mon ruby throat it is ruby, as the name 

 implies; in several species, like Costa's 

 hnmmingbird, the tips of the feathers- 

 are purple, and the basal portions- 

 snow white. In others they gleam in 

 the most metallic red or violet. 

 Sometimes the feathers of these gor- 

 gets are elongated into a beautiful ruff 

 on each side of the neck or into a 

 bearded tuft reaching down from the 

 chin. 



The Living Age being a weekly 

 magazine, suffers somewhat by com- 

 petition with the monthly magazmes 

 of the first class, if the comparison is 

 made of single numbers. But The 

 Lii'iug Age actually gives a larger 

 amount of matter each month than 

 any of the monthlies. Thus Harper's 

 Magazine contains 182 pages each 

 month; the Century 160 pages; Serib- 

 ncrs Magazine 128 pages; and The 

 Atlantic Monthly 144 pages; while 

 The Living Age gives each month 

 from 280 to 344 pages, according as 

 there were four or five issues. 



The Elephant and the Giraffe. 



BY CH.A^RLOTTE OSGOOD CARTER. 



Said the elephant to the giraffe: 

 '•Your neck is too long by one-half," 

 He replied, "Since your nose 

 Reaches down to your toes 

 At others you'd better not laugh." 

 — St. Nicholas. 



