The Hawkeye Ornithologist and Ooi.ogist. 



liquely the barbules of the next 

 barbs. 

 h. The barbules on the side of the 

 of the barb towards the cala- 

 mus end in closely packed slen- 

 der filaments, barbicels. The 

 barbules on the opposite side 

 are looser, and consist of lar- 

 ger filaments, bearing fine pro- 

 cesses and knobs, these knobbed 

 threads are hooked on the slen - 

 der filaments of the neighbor- 

 ing barbules, so that the whole 

 forms a membrane which gives 

 a firm resistance to the air. 



fi. FKATHKRS— VARIETIES. 



a. A feather of the kind de- 

 scribed is known as a penna or 

 a contour feather. 



b. Under these feathers are the 

 plumulce, or down feathers. 

 There are but few of these on 

 the pigeon. They resemble the 

 contour feathers, "with the ex- 

 ception that the barbules do 

 not interlock. 



e. The hair feathers (filo plumw) 

 may be found among the others 

 upon plucking the belly of the 

 bird. But few barbs and no 

 clear distinctions between cal- 

 amus and rachis. 



d. The semi-plumce. differing 

 from the penna by the vanes 

 being loose and downy, are 

 found ou the under surface of 

 the bodv. 



TO MOUNT CRAW FISH. 



Taking a specimen (just killed) by 

 the back, between the thumb and 

 finger, press or pull the tail down- 

 ward with the other hand in such a 

 manner as to separate the shell of 

 the back from the tail and breast. 

 Now with a small knife, scrape out 

 all soft matter from the body and 

 also the flesh from inside the tail. 

 Replace the shell of the back and 

 arrange the legs and claws in their 

 natural shape. Drying it in a slow 

 oven or under the stove will color it 

 a bright red. Drying it in the sun 

 will give it a purple and red color. 



But to preserve its natural color, it 

 should be dried in a dark box. — [Jo?m 

 0. Snyder in Hoosier Naturalist. 



HOME SCIENCE. 



BY H. F. HEGSTER, DECORAH, IA. 



[CONCLUHED FROM LAST NUMBER.] 



I remember a time when I classed 

 the rough, unsightly stones and 

 bowlders, found in our river beds or 

 on our fields, as a nuisance. They 

 were in the way and interfered with 

 the cultivation of the land, and in 

 this sense might have been called a 

 nuisance; bur now these stones and 

 bowlders have a language for me, 

 and I love to read it. They tell me 

 that these fields w^re not always 

 here, and that the dry land was not 

 always where it is at present. 



Far to the west, where the conti- 

 nental backbone stretches from the 

 peninsula of Alaska to the isthmus of 

 Panama, the ocean extended. The 

 Rocky Mountains were not yet form- 

 ed, and the sea shells, which are 

 found to-day embedded in the solid 

 rock, lived in this ocean. But here 

 comes this all important question. 

 If these shells lived in an ocean and 

 died there, how is it that we find 

 them turned to solid stone hundreds 

 of miles from an ocean? 



'Tis by years of study that the geo- 

 logist has acquired the power to an- 

 swer this question. If you desire to 

 learn the geologist's method of study, 

 my friends, come with me to the 

 Iowa river, and let us dig into one of 

 these sandy banks. ■ 



What is this xoe have come tof 'Tis a 

 clam shell filled with hardened sand. 

 As we dig deeper we find more simi- 

 lar specimens. 



Where did they came from? They 

 came from the Iowa river to be sure. 

 You will notice that the current has 

 eaten its way into the bank opposite 

 us. While the current was doing this 

 work, the sediment on which we are 



