44 



THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST. 



enumerate. So on for other authors. It is the rarest thing in the world to 

 find nestlings figured in ornithological works anywhere. There is no longer 

 any excuse for this now, for between camera, and perhaps later on color pho- 

 tography we can capture anything of the sort nowadays as the illustrations to 

 this article will vouch for, they being examples of some of my own attempts 

 in this line — four, selected from many others. The jay and the vireo are out- 

 door pictures the oilier two were taken in my studio but they all show apart 

 from color and this may be described, the nature of the plumage of the several 

 forms photographically portrayed at the time of their taking. It is not the 

 object of the present article to touch upon this question here, either in the 

 case of these species or any others. What I do hope this contribution will 

 effect, however, or help effect, and that is to again invite the attention of 

 avian anatomists and ornithologists to the real importance of more thoroughly 

 cultivating this important field than has hitherto been done. If it starts one 

 man, one camera, one scalpel going, and that in earnest and in the right direc- 

 tion, I shall be well satisfied with the result of the labor it required on my 

 part, to prepare this contribution and its illustrations. 



Crayfish 



By norris Gibbs, M. D., Kalamazoo, flich. 



In wandering about the lowlands, 

 an observant person may find a num- 

 ber of little mounds, generally near to 

 the edges of ditches and streams. 

 These little heaps vary from three to 

 six inches in height and are some- 

 times nearly a foot across and are 

 made up of small pellets of mud and 

 clay. In the centre of each is a hole 

 of an inch or more in diameter, which 

 is an outlet or inlet for the little 

 architect who inhabits the well. 

 These little tunnels or wells are gen- 

 erally known as snake holes, for they 

 are supposed by the ignorant and un- 

 observant to be filled with snakes, and 

 they are avoided by scary children or 

 broken into by the bolder ones, but to 

 the thoughtful stroller they are ever 

 asource of instruction and interest. 



It is very difficult to discover the 

 well digger at work, for it is believed 

 that these little fellows mainly work 

 at night. Still I have twice observed 

 the sly fellows carrying out the soil 

 from their burrows in broad daylight, 

 and the workers may be busy all day 

 long in their underground abodes. The 

 makers of these wells are the fresh- 

 water lobsters or crayfish, often called 

 crabs by the boys. If an observer is 



quiet for a time while sitting near to 

 these heaps, or chimne3 7 s as they are 

 called, he may see a claw carefully 

 raised out from the hole and then one 

 to four pairs of legs follow, together 

 with a pair of bead-like black eyes. 

 If the least suspicious movement is 

 seen by the tunnel inhabiter, he drops 

 back into the burrow, and only reap- 

 pears after quite a lapse of time — if at 

 all for that day. A new observer is 

 surprised to find that the maker of 

 these tunnels is the same creature that 

 he has often seen crawling about on 

 the bottom of the streams and ditches; 

 just a smaller relative of the big lob- 

 ster that we eat. 



It is probable that these wells are 

 begun at the top, but I cannot learn 

 that anyone has seen the beginning of 

 a tunnel. Then, as the well gets 

 deeper, the pellets are brought up 

 and deposited at the sides and in time 

 these accumulations form walls at the 

 sides of the well and take the form of 

 chimneys. The lime} 7 nature of the, 

 material found in the deeper soil in 

 lowlands causes the pellets to c tick 

 together and the result is quite like 

 a mud chimney. 



These tunnels always lead to water 

 which is generally found at a depth 

 of two feet or less, but at times the 

 well is all of four feet deep. 



