The H.wvkkye Ornithologist and Oologist. 



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ic arte, showing their own bodies as 

 models. Builders of boats and snips 

 have only imitated the forms, and 

 studied the motions, of fish and 

 waterfowl. These are so made as to 

 unite buoyancy with speed. The 

 nose of a fish and the stiff lins on his 

 back act as cutwaters, and his flexi- 

 ble side fins as oars. His tail, com- 

 bining the rudder and oar, makes a 

 sculling motion familiar to ail boys 

 who use boats. ,Joim Ericsson, tne 

 inventor of the Monitor and the caloric 

 engine, after studying the motion of 

 a fish's tail, invented the screw pro- 

 peller, which is now generally used 

 on large steamers instead of side 

 wheels. . . 



The octopus or devil iisb, and the 

 beautifi'i nautilus, of the same fam- 

 ily, swim by sucking water into a 

 tube, ant! ejecting it behind them, 

 the reaction producing a forward 

 luoti -.n. A steamer has been pro- 

 pelled in the same manner, but not 

 fast enough to suit American trav- 

 elers. 



The sails of a ship imitate the 

 wings of a bird. The long bones and 

 plumes of a bird's wing resemble the 

 spars of a ship and the sails attached 

 to them. The bird in flying and the 

 dog in swimming use their tails as 

 rudders. 



The slime, that covers the bodies of 

 fish, is supplied by glands in the 

 head, and, like paint on a boat, 

 makes the scales waterproof, and 

 helps the fish to glide easily through 

 the water. The scale armor of the 

 ancients was suggested by the scales 

 of a fish. The Roman soldiers em- 

 ployed in mining hostile walls work- 

 ed with one hand, while they covered 

 themselves .with a continuous roof, 

 made of their overlapping shields 

 and named testudo, or tortoise. 



The teredo navalis, or ship-worm, 

 bores with an auger attached to his 

 head. Another borer preys on bi- 

 valves. He makes a round hole, 

 ream d out like a screw-hole, and 

 suck- the shell-fish dry. Hard rocks 

 are honey-combed by shell-fish armed 

 with file;-; and crabs and lobsters 

 have terrible forceps for holding and 

 crushing their prey. The large eyes 

 of the octopus suggested one of the 

 most powerful lenses used by micro- 

 scopists. This animal's long arms 

 are furnished with many cups and 

 lancets, similar to those used by phy- 

 sicians in drawing blood. The "fish- 



ing frog" or angler is a fish with a 

 huge mouth, in front of which a bait 

 hangs on a slender spine Or rod, to 

 allure the small fry to their doom. 



If man is ever able to traverse the 

 air at will, as he sails the ocean, his 

 vessel must imitate the form and 

 propellers of a fish. 



Ox all insects the most interesting 

 for _ study is the honey-bee, the 

 subject of many learned works, and 

 hardly yet understood. Who can 

 solve the mystery ot the bee-hive? 

 By sprinkling bees witn flour they 

 have been tracked from a clover 

 field forty miles to their hive. How 

 do they know their way home? 



it has lately b;en dfseovered that 

 the sting of tne bee is not merely a 

 defensive weapon, but is also a tube 

 used to puncture each filled honev 

 pell, when tilled and capped wiui wax. 

 The bee then injects a drop of formic 

 acid, which prevents the honey from 

 spoiling. The tremex, or saw-borer 

 fly carries her tools within a sheath, 

 and deposits her eggs in the hole she 

 has made. 



Disturb an ants' nest, or throw 

 crumbs Or seeds where ants will find 

 them, and you will soon see ants, 

 even far from tne nest, conversing in 

 pairs, by rubbing their feelers to- 

 gether, and alterward hurrying to 

 gatner the harvest or to repair the 

 ant-hills. [Solomon says: "Gro to the 

 "ant, thou sluggard; consider her 

 "ways,and be wise, which, having no 

 "guide, overseer or ruler, provideth 

 "ner meat in the summer, and gath- 

 ereth her food in the harvest." Ani- 

 mals are endowed with a subtile in- 

 stinct unknown to man, and mistak- 

 en by some, for reason. Cats and 

 dogs, birds and fish return from dis- 

 tant places by land, air or water, to 

 their early homes. 



We have so much in common with 

 the lower animals, and they are so 

 serviceable to us, that we owe great 

 kindness to these "poor relations." 

 They teach us lessons of family af- 

 fection, and of trust in the providen- 

 tial care of Him who feeds and guards 

 us all. Birds delight us with their 

 curious nests, their airy flights, their 

 wide diversity of character. 



Their beauty and song please our 

 senses, and cheer us in the dull round 

 of daily toil. Kindness to inferior 

 creatures ennobles us. "The merci- 

 "ful man regardeth the life of his 

 "beast." 



