THE VOICE OF NATURE. 



Who could not sleep in this embowered room 



Perched high above the suffocating ground ; 

 Where clinging vines, and tree-tops in their 

 bloom 

 Cast grateful shade and fragrance all around ; 

 When, added to the magic spell of flowers, 

 The night bird's song fills up the witching 

 hours! 



Who could not rise refreshed at early dawn 

 In this same sweet, enchanted nook ; 



When, to the half-unconscious ear is borne. 

 From Lark and Robin. Sparrow, Thrush and 

 Rook, 



The gentle warning of the opening day — 

 God's earliest sermon to humanity! 



What soul could feel the burdening weight of sin 

 When, from these tiny, upraised throats, 



The songs of Nature's praise begin 



And Heavenward pour, in liquid dulcet notes! 



We gladly join our grateful voice to theirs 



And turn our thoughts to God in earnest prayers. 



B. D. Barron. 



IN THE ANIMAL WORLD. 



The organs of smell in a Vulture 

 and a Carrion Crow are so keen that 

 they can scent their food for a distance 

 of forty miles, so they say. 



The wings of birds are not only to 

 aid locomotion in the air, but also on 

 the ground and water. One bird even 

 has claws in the " elbows " of its 

 wings to aid in climbing. 



The Elephant does not smell with 

 his trunk. His olfactory nerves are 

 contained in a single nostril, which is 

 in the roof of the mouth, near the 

 front. 



Humming Birds are domesticated 

 by placing in their cages a number of 

 paper flowers of tubular form, contain- 

 ing a small quantity of sugar and 

 water, which must be frequently 

 renewed. Of this liquid the birds 

 partake and quickly become apparently 

 contented with their captivity. 



Rightly considered, a Spider's web 

 is a most curious as well as a most 

 beautiful thing. When we were chil- 

 dren, the majority of us supposed that 

 the Spider's web was pulled out of its 

 moutli, and that the little insect had a 



large reel of the stuff in his stomach, 

 and that he could almost instantly add 

 feet, yards, or rods to the roll. The 

 facts are that Spiders have a regular 

 spinning machine — a set of tiny tubes 

 at the far end of the body — and that 

 the threads are nothing more nor less 

 than a white, sticky fluid, which 

 hardens as soon as it comes in contact 

 with the air. The Spider does not 

 really and truly " spin," but begins a 

 thread by pressing his '' spinneret " 

 against some object, to which the 

 liquid sticks. He then moves away 

 and by constantly ejecting the fluid 

 and allowing it to harden, forms his 

 ropes or wonderful geometrical nets. 



Birds have separate notes of warn- 

 ing to indicate whether danger is in 

 the shape of a Hawk or a Cat or a 

 man. If a Cat, a Hawk, or an Owl is on 

 the move, the Birds, especially Black- 

 birds, always utter a clattering note, 

 constantly repeated, and Chickens 

 have a special sound to indicate the 

 presence of a Hawk. But when dis- 

 turbed by man the Blackbirds have 

 quite a different sound of alarm and 

 the Chickens also. 



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