1876.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



133 



(liu'sl, L'spcciully tluil of the Sibei-iaii aiiinial, 

 wlikli is (lark and liuaiilil'iilly glossy. TIk'. 

 len,i;tli of the j;liittoii, cxcUisivi^ of its tail, is 

 aliout two fi'c-t six iiii-li(:s ; thai of the tail, iii- 

 c-liHliiiK till' loiii; full fur, li'ii inches. The 

 IVuialcs brint; fori h once .a year, the lirood of 

 cubs bf'iui; four in nuuibi'r. The fur, wln'U 

 the hair is reiuoveil, is soft, downy, and of ii 

 pale yellowish color, sonietiuies passin,;; into 

 whitisli. 



AceonliiiLi: to Dr. (iodnian. our .Vniei'ican 

 Wolverine ((juIo htsni.s) iuhaliits the northern 

 parts of /Vnierica i^eiierally, i|uit(! to tlu; Arctic 

 •Sea, and it is prnbabli' thai its visits extend be- 

 yond the eoutiuenl towards the I'ole, :isa skull 

 was found on .Midville Island liy Cijit. Parry, 

 which belonged to this auilual. [I is all ili- 

 liabitaiit alike of the woods and the barren 

 grounds, and is capalile of euduriiiii thi' sever- 

 est cold. Allhoui;h the mot ions of this animal 

 are neces-sarily slow, and its jj;ait heavy, yet 

 the acuteiiess of its sijiht and powers of siuell- 

 iiif; are ample coinpeusations; and as they are 

 .seldom or never killed without beinj; found 

 very fat, there istfooil reason fnr lielievin.n that 

 they never suffer much from hun.i;er. It is sa id 

 th«t its fj;reat streiijith, and itsshar[i clawsaiul 

 teelh, enable it to offer a vry effectual resist- 

 ance even to the bear. Its extraoriliiiaiy 

 stren;;tli and its fjreat gust tor foo<l, causes 

 much trouble to the hunters and travelers who 

 attempt to secure provisicuis by buryint; them 

 in the snow, or protect them by cover- 

 ings of boughs and trunks of trees. It 

 is almost iniiiossible to iirevent this 

 creature from fiiuliug access to such 

 places of deposit, either by strength or 

 stratagem, and destroying the stock on 

 which the voyager depends for his future 

 subsistence and safety. So tierce and 

 dauntless is tlie Wolverine that it has 

 been seen to take away from the wolf a 

 carcass of a deer, and when engaged in 

 feeding on said carcass it has refu.sed to 

 move, though, warned of the hnnter'sap- 

 l)roach and has suffered itself to be shot 

 down w'hile thus mainlaiuing its prize. 



The regions iuhabiled by this animal 

 are abundantly supplied with small 

 (piadrupeds and birds as well as witll 

 largiu' animals, so that without any very 

 great idTort, it is quite probalile it is able 

 to in'ocure a plentiful subsistence, with- 

 out exercising the ingenuity that has 

 been attributed to it by the older, and 

 some of the modern writers. When 

 taken captiv(^ anil retained in conliiie- 

 ment, its disiiosition does not .seem by 

 any means as unlaniiible as lias been 

 represented, nor is its voracity especially 

 remarkable. 



Situated as we arc, we do not profess to be 

 conversant with the history and character of 

 the Wolverine, and therefore the foregoing is 

 merely a compilation from the works of God- 

 man, Arnold, Wood, Tcnney and Knight, 

 and we are willing to believe that their histor- 

 ical descriptions are more relialile than their 

 figures of the auim.'ils. We have six illustra- 

 tions of the animal bi-foro us, and there arc no 

 two of them that bear any closer resemldance 

 to each other, apparently, than a dog and cat. 

 Theoiie wehaveselecti'irto il his! ratet his article 

 cle seems a nearer apprnai-h to the fore animal 

 than any of the others, according to the de- 

 scrijition .given. The generic latin name Oiilo, 

 means il "glutton," and the siiecilic name 

 arrlicux has reference to its liabilat. The 

 specific name of the American species, luscits, 

 means '"blinking." 



The " Wolverines" belong to the order C'AU- 

 Kivoi{.\, family MisTELiD.E, tribe Pl.\xti- 

 fiK.\D.\, liecause in walking they f)lace the 

 whole sole of the foot on the ground, which en- 

 ables them to stand erect, in contradistinction 

 to the l)i(;rriouAi)A, which walk more on the 

 ends of their toes, and are conseiinently more 

 active than the former. 



THE BARRED OWL. 

 iSfriJ' Srhnti}rnt > 



However stupid owls may seem, and with 

 whatever aviision or prejudice they may hi; 

 regarded — whatever depredations upon ilo- 

 niestic jiosscssioiis may be chargi'd against 

 them, it cannot be said that they purloin or 

 destroy our grain, our v<'getablcs, or our fruit. 

 If there is no settled prejudice existing agaiiust 

 owls, they are at least tli(? subjects of almost 

 uiiiver.sal eontem|it, and to many timid people 

 they are an absolute "fright." Mi>n and boys, 

 in general, show little res|)ect for them, and 

 at all times feet themselves at perfect liberty 

 to cast a missile at them, or shoot them down 

 with the least possible compuncti<Mi. And yet, 

 .so far as injuring anything of ackiiowledgeil 

 usefulness to the huinau family is concerned, 

 there is perhaps no member of tlii^ feathered 

 tribes, or no subj('ct of tlu! animal kingdom 

 that is nion; harmless or perHunis a mon^ 

 wat('hful and continuous use than tlieowl. As I 

 " mousers " they are of more value than the 

 best of cats or terriers, and find their prey, at 

 times and in phu-es where their more favored 

 rivals scarcely ever venture or intruile. 



The peculiar character of the pluinagi; of 

 owls is such that their lliglit becomes light, 

 smooth and noiseless ; so much so that not the 

 slightest rustling of the wings can be heard. 

 On one occasion w'c kept one in our sanctum 



A SofTiiKKX I)ee-keeper claims the snn- 

 llower to he a large honey-producing plant, 

 and recommends the pods after the seeds are 

 taken out as excellent bee-feeilers. 



aliout four weeks during winter. He perched 

 and .slept all day, but at night he fed and be- 

 came, lively, and would tly about the room, 

 fi\)m the top of a bookcase to a chair ba('k, 

 and from thenci' to a (luart bottle containing 

 alcoholic specimens — perching on the ('ork — 

 and although he often came withiu a foot <if 

 our face we never could hear him, or feel the 

 ■lir agitated by his wings, nor <lid he ever 

 overturn any object he ever rested upon. 



The various species of owls feed on mice, 

 moles, siinirrels, rabbits, frogs, snakes, toads, 

 fishes and insects, and many other ni.ght 

 jirowlers ; and whatever animal they may 

 capture, after breaking the bnues in it, they 

 take all down, " horns, hoofs, hair, skin and 

 toe nails," and aftiM'wards they di.sgorgc! a 

 "pellet" composed ot hair, feathers, bones, 

 wing-covers of beetles, or any other substances 

 that are indigestible. About twenty species 

 of owls are known to the United States, and 

 eight or nine species have been captured in 

 Lancasti'r county up to the year 1K7I). 



The "Harred Owl," {Strix nehtdosa*) nu il- 

 lustration of wdiich is tolerably well rejiresentcd 

 in the figures accoiu|)anying this sketch, is one 

 of our larger and commoner siiecie.s, and is 

 more frecpiently met with in the fall and win- 

 ter, than any other of the family, especially 

 near the borders of creek.s or rivei-s, or near 



swamps bordered by woodlands; but il is only 

 a winter visitant of Lancaster county. There 

 is a S|iecimeii of it (No. 1:17) in the Liniiican 

 .Society's colled ion, which wa.s shot in this 

 county .some years ago by .ludge (Jbhart. This 

 species feeds mainly on rabbits ami sipiiriels, 

 and it is also charged with killing poultry, and 

 hence it is, perhaps, more diurnal in its liabits 

 than any other species except the " I'rairie 

 Owl." Where rabbits, sipiirnls and poultry 

 do not abound, however, this bird feedschielly 

 on mice, moles, frog.s, lizards, snakes, and 

 sometimes even on fish. It is by no means a 

 shy bird, but will often at night, approach very 

 near to a camp lire, ami seemingly .scrutinize 

 all that is going on without manifesting the 

 least alarm. It will turn its thick head lowanLs 

 you, and lix on you its large eyes, and follow 

 all your movements as if it wi're cognizant of 

 all you are doing. It builds a rugged nest in 

 the forking branches of a large tree, and usu- 

 ally lays three purely white eggs, about the 

 size of a hen's egg, but more globular, and 

 with a coarser, rougher shell. If occasion re- 

 iinire!*, it is capable of a jirotracted llight, as 

 they have been noticed to lly two miles or more 

 on oneslretch. The usual li-ngth of the female 

 bird is about twenty-two inches, and that of 

 the male alioul .seventeen inches. There is 

 al.so often a remarkable dill'erence in the size of 

 the same se.x, soim.' females being twenty-eight 

 .and some males twenty inches in h'ligth. The 

 young are, forsmiu' time after birth, covered 

 with a fine white down, which gives lliem 

 ([iiite a peculiar, but not a repulsive or un- 

 interesting appearance. These birds are 

 s.'iid to make the day .or night hideous on 

 theapiiroach of a stnnn. respi Hiding to each 

 other ill such unearthly tones that one can- 

 not help thinking Sdiiiethiiig very extraor- 

 dinary is abciiil to take place among them. 

 In the South, in dark cloudy days, Iheircry 

 may be heard from every patch of wood near 

 the plantations, inilicatiiig an approaching 

 stoiiu; and of course they liecomc the awful 

 and infallible weather iirognosticatore, 

 among the superstitious and illiterate Afri- 

 cans. 



We noticed recently a great mortality 

 among the sheep of Xew .South Wales by 

 starvation— one pastoral district losing 

 ^. lilteen thousand — and that .said mortality 

 was caused by the total destruction of the 

 jiastures by the field mice, which Were mul- 

 ii|ilyiii,g and swarining over large portions 

 ol'tiie country. The authorities were taking 

 counsel with reference to the importation 

 of hawks, inr'ts and other birds of prey, as 

 the only feasible means of destroying the 

 mice. This may be regarded as a practieal 

 recognition of the ntilitj' of the owl as a 

 field scavenger, and illustrates its position 

 in nature in maintaining her eipiilibrium. A 

 similar event occurred many years ago in .Scot- 

 land through till' ivdimdancy of rabbits, in 

 which owls performed an important function. 

 Although it might be ditlicult to subdue the 

 mice when' they become so numerous as they 

 are said to be in Xew .South Wales, yet it is 

 (lucstionable whether such an inequidity could 

 ever exist where the birds of jirey are suffered 

 to multiply without molc>station. This is a 

 matter to be considered by those who are in 

 the habit of slaughtering hawks and owls on 

 account of the jeojiardy they place their poul- 

 try in. The presence of these birds may be an 

 evil, hut their absence might be worse. — Ed. 



•ItB lateetr soieutiflc ^ppelatigii, we believe, Is Si/miiim 

 ntbtUwntm, 



ABOUT POTATOES. 



"What's the matter with the potatoes?" 

 This is a tiuestion now generally asked by the 

 potato consumers, and esjiccially by their ]irn- 

 deiit housewives. The almost universal com- 

 plaint is. that the potatoes now brought to our 

 markets are not nearly so plenty, so large, or 

 of so exc( llent a quality as those obtained early 

 in tbesea.son, and they want to kninv "what's 

 the matter," especially since there has been 

 so much "blowing" about our Centennial 

 crops. 



We will essay an answer to the verj' rational 

 query, as it occurs to our apprehension, sup- 

 ported by the testimony of tliose who ought 



