AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



59 



engine is used in factories, the lime-stone water is very 

 troublesome, for their boilers are soon clogged by masses 

 of the carbonate of lime precipitating in them. The tem- 

 perature of the well water in the village varies from 50° 

 to 56° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The coldest spring 

 is just under m)' study window; but unfortunately it is 

 highly charged with the lime-stone, and is thus rendered 

 very unpleasant to me as a drink. Persons, however, 

 brought up in these lime-stone regions become very fond 

 of the water, and even complain when they are obliged to 

 use a purer liquid found in other districts. It has been 

 thought by many, that those horrid tumors, called goitres, 

 which are so common among the peasantry of Switzer- 

 land, are occasioned by the calcareous matter in the wa- 

 ter which they drink. I have never seen a case of this ma- 

 lady with us, but I have been informed that instances of it 

 have been noticed; particularly when the country was 

 first settled. 



Curious Instinct of the Common Hog. — (Sus Scrofa — 



Lin.) 



It is customary with farmers who reside in the thinly 

 settled tracts of the United States, to suffer their hogs to 

 run at large. These animals feed upon acorns, which are 

 very abundant in our extensive forests, and in this situation 

 they often become wild and ferocious. A gentleman of 

 my acquaintance, while travelling some years ago, through 

 our unfrequented district, perceived at a little distance 

 before him a herd of swine, and his attention was arrested 

 by the agitation they exhibited. He quickly perceived a 

 number of young pigs in the centre of the herd, and that 

 the hogs were arranged about them in a conical figure, hav- 

 ing their heads all turned outwards. At the apex of this 

 singular cone, a huge boar had placed himself, who, from 

 his size, seemed to be the master of the herd. The travel- 

 ler now observed that a famished wolf was attempting by 

 various manoeuvres to seize one of the pigs in the middle; 

 but wherever he made an attack, the huge boar at the apex 

 of the cone presented himself — the hogs dexterously ar- 

 ranging themselves on each side of him, so as to preserve 

 the position of defence just mentioned. The attention of 

 the traveller was for a moment withdrawn, and, upon 

 turning to view the combatants, he was surprised to find 

 the herd of swine dispersed, and the wolf no longer to be 

 seen. On riding up to the spot, the wolf was discovered 

 dead on the ground, a rent being made in his side, more 

 than a foot in length — the boar having, no doubt, seized a 

 favourable opportunity, and with a sudden plunge despatch- 

 ed his adversary with his formidable tusks. 



It is a little remarkable that the ancient Romans, among 



the various methods they devised for drawing up their 

 armies in battle, had one exactly resembling the position 

 assumed by the swine above mentioned. This mode of 

 attack they called the Cuneus, or Caput porcinum. 



Blue-Yellow Bird. — (Fringilla tristis.) 



To those but little 'acquainted with Natural History, 

 the assertion that a white black-bird, (oriolus Phceniceus,) 

 and a black swan, (Anas Atrata) are animals really in exist- 

 ence, appears too paradoxical for belief. Black swans, 

 however, are found in New-Holland and some other places, 

 possessing all the graceful attitudes of the European spe- 

 cies; and white black-birds, or albinos, are of no very 

 uncommon occurrence. 



I have observed another anomaly among the feathered 

 tribes no less striking. A bird of precisely the same size, 

 habits, and general appearance as our common Yellow- 

 bird, (Fringilla tristis,) associating with it, and differing 

 only in colour; this bird was of a dark indigo in the places 

 where the male (F. tristis) is yellow; the black bands on 

 the wings, and the spot on the head, were the same in 

 both. 



The following hints are offered by way of theory to ex- 

 plain these anomalies: — 



If there be any truth in the opinion entertained by 

 many, that the imagination of the parent, or that cer- 

 tain casualties during gestation, have an influence on the 

 offspring of the class Mamalia — why may not the like 

 circumstances affect the embryo in the egg of birds? Again, 

 we know that when the eye becomes fatigued with be- 

 holding the glare of one colour, it is relieved by changing 

 the colour; or if a colour be viewed for some time, the 

 opposite will be painted on the retina. Thus when we 

 look on the bright light thrown by a burning-glass on any 

 object, a black spot is produced in the eye; and if we look 

 steadfastly on a black spot made with ink on a white sheet 

 of paper, on moving the ej 7 e a little, a luminous spot will 

 be seen on the paper, much brighter than the surrounding 

 part.* Will not these two particulars, taken together, ac- 

 count for the above anomalies ? 



The causes which have produced the varieties in the 

 human species, are but little understood. Too much is 

 perhaps attributed to the influence of climate. There are 

 many reasons to satisfy an unprejudiced mind, besides the 

 unerring testimony of the Bible, that the whole race of 

 man has sprung from one and the same stock. The fivo 

 principal varieties mentioned by Blumenbach, the Cauca- 



* If we gaze long upon a bright yellow spot, a blue colour will bo painted 

 on the retina. Many curious particulars on this subject may be found la 

 the first volume of Darwin's Zoonomia. 



