52 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Col 



"With the permission of the masters of the coterie they build 

 their nests in the vacancies that occur in the squares. Now, if 

 we contrast the way in which these birds inaugurate their colony 

 with that which is often pursued by mankind, we shall find 

 that the former exhibit quite as much wisdom as the latter, and 

 perhaps more so. For instance ; before the birds start they have 

 an open assembly of all those who are interested in the question. 

 There is no limitation of the franchise. When they meet there 

 is no hurry and no wrangling ; their whole demeanour is that 

 of deliberation. After coming to a decision they act upon it. 

 The conference does not end in sentiment, it results in most 

 systematic work work undertaken and carried out without any 

 further hesitation or planning. Then, having effected their 

 own arrangements, they proceed upon a liberal policy towards 

 other tribes. They are not arbitrary, aggressive, or exclusive. 

 They freely allow others to come and take up their residence 

 with them. The result of all this wisdom is a happy and 

 prosperous community. "When modern men colonise, they are 

 apt to pass swaggering resolutions at big assemblies, and with 

 much noise to proceed to their work with the Bible in one 

 hand and murderous weapons in the other. They bluster about 

 their rights and are intolerant of the existence, anywhere near 

 them, of even the men whose land they have taken for their 

 colony. It is a question whether, with all their shrewd policy, 

 and their stupendous and unscrupulous use of brute force, they 

 are as successful or happy as they might be if they learned 

 their colonisation catechism from the penguins. RE. 



Colossal Works unconsciously achieved. 



When the sea has left a coral reef for some time it becomes 

 dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly hard and 

 ragged ; but no sooner does the tide rise again, and the waves 

 begin to wash over it, than millions of coral worms protrude 

 themselves from holes on the surface which were before quite 

 invisible. The growth of coral ceases when the worm which 

 creates it is no longer exposed to the washing of the tide. Thus 

 a reef rises in the form of a gigantic cauliflower, till its top has 

 gained the level of the highest tides, above which the worm 



