BIRDS AND ALL NATURE, 



Illustrated by COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



Vol. IV. 



AUGUST, 1898. 



No. 2. 



NATURE^S ADJUSTMENTS. 



By W. E. Watt. 



We have a general notion that what- 

 ever Nature does is just right. It has 

 become an article of popular faith that 

 the ways of Nature are not to be im- 

 proved upon. We feel that he who 

 proposes something better than what 

 is offered by the forces of the material 

 world is by far too presumptions. We 

 look upon the man who would improve 

 upon what is natural much as the old 

 farmer did upon the lightning rod 

 man. " No, sir ; I'd never put a rod 

 up over my house or barn to keep off 

 the lightnin'. 'Twould be defyin' 

 the Almighty. If he wants to strike 

 me, do you suppose I'm goin' to 

 appear before Him and say I put that 

 up to stop him ? " 



When the qualities of the soil and 

 conditions of the atmosphere have 

 been propitious for the production of 

 husk fiber, we look at the husk upon 

 the corn or the beard of the wheat 

 head and declare solemnly to our 

 friends that the coming winter will be 

 a severe one. We say that Nature 

 knows what is about to occur and has 

 provided for the protection of the 

 grain. We infer that she has thought 

 it all out beforehand and we can see 

 but a small portion of her plans. It 

 seems never to have occurred to us 

 that grain left to shift for itself through 



the winter is just as well off" and little 

 likely to sustain injury when the husk 

 is thin as when it is thick. 



We examine the fur of the Squirrel 

 in the fall and say winter will not be 

 severe because there is not a heavy 

 coat on the specimen examined. We 

 think Nature tells the Squirrel in some 

 mysterious way that there is to be a 

 light winter and that it will not be 

 worth while for him to put much 

 of his summer energy into hair grow- 

 ing, or that he may as well count on 

 frisking through the winter in scant 

 garments because he will not suffer 

 greatly so attired. 



We are oblivious of the fact that the 

 fur on the »Squirrel depends as to its 

 profusion upon the general health of 

 the subject and the condition of the 

 fluids of his system, and that these are 

 much more influenced by the winter 

 he last experienced and the food he 

 has recently had than by the weather 

 that is to be some months hence. 



We frequently speak rapturously of 

 the mimicry of Nature. The Giraffe 

 escapes his enemy by appearing to be 

 a part of a clump of tree trunks, the 

 Butterfly felicitously reposes upon a 

 limb with his gaudy colors folded away 

 and an exterior presented which makes 

 him appear a veritable dead leaf with 



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