FOREST AND STREAM. 



105 



THE HERONS. 



IK reference to an article lately published in the Forest 

 and Stream on the depredations of the Night Heron, 

 commonly known as the " Quawk," (Nyctiarclea Oaudenii,) 

 we give the following history of the Herons*, in reply to sev- 

 eral letters which we have received from different quarters, 

 mentioning like depredations committed by the Great Blue 

 Heron, (Ardea herodias.) 



All Herons are nocturnal in their habits, although they 

 sometimes feed during the day, particularly late in the 

 season. They are all provided with their natural lantern, 

 which they use with great success. There are sixteen 

 species of Herons found in the United States. The largest 

 and most powerful of these is the great Blue Heron {Ardea 

 herodias) and Florida Heron, (Ardea wardemanni,) which 

 greatly resemble each other in size and color, and by some 

 naturalists are considered as one species, although they dif- 

 fer widely in their distribution. The great Blue Heron 

 ranges from Canada to South America, and from the Pacific 

 to the Atlantic ocean, whereas the Florida Heron only 

 occurs in the Southern States. They are both gorman- 

 dizers of the first water, and devour fish, young birds, mice 

 and marine insects without distinction. The next in size 

 and the most beautiful of the larger Herons, is the Avdu- 

 bonia orcidentaMs, (great White Heron.) This is indeed a 

 magnificent bird. When standing it is full three feet high, 

 and as white as snow, making it a very conspicuous object 

 when standing on the bank of a river, or when wading on 

 the flats. The beautiful white plumes often observed in 

 ladies' hats, are taken from the back of this bird. The 

 "Teat White Heron is found throughout the southern Ij nfted 

 States, but is most common in Florida. The next in size 

 is the California egret, (Herodias egretta,) a close relative of 

 the Audubonia occidentalism and an inhabitant of southern 

 California and the southern States. Its plumage is white, 

 and its bill is very long and of a yellow color. Its back is 

 furnished with plumes in the adult stage of plumage. The 

 bittern, or stake driver, (Botaurus centiginosus,) is commonly 

 found throughout the United States, and is one of the most 

 widely distributed of birds. He is a quiet, peaceful fellow, 

 who lives in the marshes and preys upon small fish, frogs, 

 aquatic animals and mice, but should you break his wing 

 by a chance shot, you will rind him a formidable and deter- 

 mined enemy. With drooping wings, and witli plumage 

 erect, and neck drawn back until nothing is visible but 

 the sharp beak and small yellow eyes, he will attack you 

 savagely with his bill until he is laid low from a blow with 

 your ramrod. The bittern differs from the rest of the Heron 

 family in being more diurnal in its habits, and laying its 

 eggs on the ground. 



The Night Heron (JVyctiardea grandenn) is found in every 

 'State in the Union, and is a very numerous species. They 

 breed in colonies, generally in a dark swamp, where they 

 retire during the day, but as night approaches they 

 become uneasy, and when it is fairly dark they leave 

 their roosts singly or in pairs for their favorite sand bar or 

 mud hole, there to stand on one leg as immovable as stakes 

 to strike their unwary prey, that glides beneath them. 

 These are the birds that utter the sudden " quak " directly 

 over your head when you are sitting quietly fishing some 

 summer evening. The Blue Heron (Florida caerulea) is a 

 resident of the southern United States, and is most numer- 

 ous about the lagoons of Florida. The different stages of 

 plumage of this bird would greatly deceive the amateur 

 collector. The first year its plumage is pure white, the 

 second year the ends of the primaria, or wing feathers, 

 and the scapulars, or back, are blotched with a blueish 

 tinge; the third year the blue on the wings, rump, and 

 crest becomes more conspicuous, and the fourth year it has 

 the adult plumage of a purplish blue. The Louisiana 

 Heron (Demie gretta ludovieiana) is another southern species 

 found abundantly in Florida, and is distinguished by its 

 long, slender neck and beak, being rather a lighter built 

 bird than the other herons. The Louisiana Heron is bluish 

 on the upper parts, whitish underneath; the plumes of the 

 back are a bluish brown color, and its head is adorned with 

 a pendant crest composed of five or six white feathers. This 

 is the most active of its tribe, and pursues its prey with 

 great rapidity. The White Heron (Herodias egretta) is rather 

 a larger species, with a pure white plumage, and in all prob- 

 ability the adult of Herodias OaUfornica. The snowy Heron 

 (Ganetta candandissima) is a resident of the Gulf States, and 

 is seldom seen further north than Virginia. This species 

 has not an equal for beauty among the smaller herons. It 

 has a bunch of snowy plumes on its back, and when the 

 plumes are erect, they give the bird a magnificent appearance. 

 The Seminole Indians of Florida often rob the snowy heron 

 of its plumes, which they wear as an ornament and sell for 

 a high price. The Peales Egret (Bermigretta peali) and 

 Reddish Egret (Bermigretta Kufa) are peculiar to the South- 

 ern States, and are not so abundant as other species ; they 

 breed in company with other herons, but occasionally form 

 small colonies of their own. The Yellow crowned Night 

 Heron (Ny ether odius molaceus) is a solitary species frequent- 

 ing the bayous and lagoons of Florida. This species is 

 rather common on the Indian River and its tributaries, and 

 is strictly a Southern species. The Green Heron or Poke, 

 Ardea virescem) is perhaps the best known of its genus and 

 is a common resident in every quarter. The millpond, 

 canal, river, creek, marsh and brook are all the home of the 

 Pokes, where they are often seen feeding during the day. 

 The Green Heron breeds in single pairs or in small colonies, 

 according to the number there may be in one locality. 

 Where there are extensive marshes they are generally found 

 in communities. The Least Bittern (Ardetta exilis) is the 



smallest of all the herons, standing scarcely eight inches 

 high and greatly resembles its big cousin, the Stake Driver, 

 in plumage. When wounded it immediately skulks in the 

 grass or rushes, and remains concealed and will not remove 

 unless kicked over by the foot of the hunter. It is not a 

 common species, but stragglers are found all over the 

 United States. The herons are all gregarious and except- 

 ing the Bitterns build their nests in trees. Their eggs re- 

 semble each other in color, being nearly all a pale green. 

 Their nests are composed of sticks laid carelessly on a hori- 

 zontal limb, where it is often blown off by the wind, or their 

 eggs rolled out of it to be broken on the ground below, 

 where they are devoured by crows, or skunks. 



NO MORE DESERTS. 



JUST as our gazeteers have to be remodelled every year, 

 so have our geographical charts to be changed. If Prus- 

 sia for the last decade has been the horror of map-makers, 

 now that railroads are stretching out their long feelers, how 

 much more rapid, are the alterations they have made intopo 

 graphy. Our school days are not so far distant but that 

 we remember that mysterious locality pitched somewhere 

 midway between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, 

 called the Great American Desert. If Africa rejoiced in a 

 Sahara, reasoning by analogy, map-makers gave us one. 



Writers of twenty years ago applied this term to whole sec 

 tions of country, somewhere about the hundredth degree of 

 west longtitude. That a barren waste does exist about this 

 locality, no one doubts, but recent research has very much 

 curtailed its area. Dr. Cyrus Thomas declares that the 

 barren district runs through the centers of Dakota, Nebras- 

 ka, and Kansas, just skirting the western portion of Indian 

 Territory and Kansas. The question which most occupies 

 our attention, is the one which scientists are now discussing 

 in regard to the exact temperature of these barren regions, 

 and the rain falls. Dr. Thomas seems to have paid the 

 closest attention to these meteorological conditions, and 

 has pretty nearly determined that west of Cheyenne, the 

 average rainfall is not sufficient to produce vegetation. The 

 soil, he states, is good, excepting were over-impregnated 

 with alkali. As to rain-fall between 18t>7 and 1871, the 

 average rain- fail was only 14.09 inches, less than half that 

 of Iowa or Minnesota, while in Nebraska the average for 

 the same period was 31.47. The New York Times, in treat- 

 ing of this most interesting subject, says: — 



"The Great American Desert, independently of any min- 

 eral treasures it may possess, is not the useless wilderness 

 represented to be, neither has it everywhere the richness 

 that is found in Iowa and parts of Minnesota. Where it is 

 less adapted for the plow it may be well suited for pastoral 

 purposes, the spots that are the least useful being only to 

 be found at intervals, and nearer to the foot of the Rocky 

 Mountains." 



What is wanted in this country is evidently tree planting. 

 That all these arid plains, thousands of years ago, were 

 covered with trees seems to be highly probable. From 

 their laying fiat, the forests, once on fire, were consumed 

 to the very last tree. In Nebraska the people seem to be 

 wide awake to the necessity of not only drawing the water 

 from the clouds, but of keeping it there by tree culture. 

 One farmer in Nebraska, two years ago, planted 120,000 

 trees, and the State, under certain conditions, following out 

 Dr. F. B. Hough's admirable ideas, exempts from taxation 

 the property of settlers who cultivate trees. 



Is it too much to imagine that the time will come when 

 all these arid wastes will be reclaimed, and bloom again 

 like a garden? When fertilizing rains shall fall once more 

 aud make the desert an oasis? Data on such subjects, 

 giving man's mastery over climate and even soil are per- 

 haps wanting. That sections of country have been re- 

 claimed is very evident. How man}'- centuries of civiliza- 

 tion it has taken, we have no means of determining. But 

 if we argue the opposite way, starting from data of coun- 

 tries once green with foliage, dense with woods, abounding 

 with streams, but to-day scorched and arid wastes, unin- 

 habited by bird or beast, the examples would be plenty. 

 We can destroy much more rapidly than we can create. 

 Isolated efforts, then, of tree planting may in time be effec- 

 tive to reclaim this desert, but what we must again urge, is 

 collective legislation, making it imperative on all settlers to 

 plant trees in the neighborhood of the so-called American 



Desert. 



«*^*» 



CAN THE JELLY-FISH SUSTAIN LIFE? 



IT would be an experiment worth trying to determine 

 whether the acatephm, or Jelly-fish of the ocean could sus- 

 tain life, when taken as food by castaway mariners. They 

 certainly do not contain much solid substance, but that lit- 

 tle must be nourishing, for many fish live exclusively on them. 

 All the herring family, including Shad, Menhaden, and the 

 smaller species live on nothing else. We have seen the Men- 

 haden feeding on a species of Jelly-fish the size of a pigeon's 

 egg, in Jamaica Bay. The pearly iridescent Jelly-fish were 

 drifting with the tide, and the glistening Menhaden were 

 darting in every direction after them, flashing in the snn- 

 lio-ht, or suddenly disappearing as their sides or backs were 

 seen. We shall not soon forget the sight. 



The flesh of the Herring tribe is peculiarly rich, oily and 

 nutritious, and must be entirely composed of the solid parts 

 of the Jelly-fish, chemically changed by digestion. If these 

 creatures can, therefore, sustain life, the fact ought to be 

 generally known. 



Another point to be determined is whether the Jelly-fish 

 would not also supply the thirsty mariner with all the fresh 

 water he might need, when in distress. We cannot affirm 



it as a fact, but wc believe that these fish contain little or 

 no salt, and that their transparent and soft substance is 

 chiefly composed of fresh water. 



If they should prove to be a sufficient substitute for meat 

 and drink, the ocean would be divested of part of its terrors, 

 and we should no longer hear harrowing tales of the suffer- 

 ings endured by the survivors of foundered vessels, leading 

 to the extreme necessity of eating each other. The ocean 

 is alive with numerous kinds of Jelly-fish, from the huge 

 qua/id or medusa, and the Portuguese man-of-war, to the mi- 

 nute atoms that cause the phosphoresence of its waters when 

 stiired by the wind, or by the vessel ploughing through it. 

 Some are in bead-like chains, as large as a pea ; others are 

 in the shape of an egg, while the largest are formed like a 

 mushroom, with a fringe of long, thread-like appendages 

 around the margin of their disk. These threads each con- 

 tain a wonderfully contrived stinging apparatus, consisting 

 of a microscopic harpOon, beautifully barbed or serrated, 

 connected with a coil of thread, that brings the little weapon 

 back to its sheath after it has been darted out at any object 

 touching the sensitive tentacles. These stinging quaiJoU are 

 well known on our coasts, and they reach a very large size, 

 more than a foot across the disk, and several inches in 

 thickness. Of course these tentacles could be cut off 

 when they are eaten, as the minute harpoons might cause 

 an irritation of the stomach. 



Those who traverse the seas know that hardly a day 

 passes without meeting a long streak of Jelly-fish, drifting 

 with the winds or currents, and a castaway could dip out 

 all that he wanted by the aid of an old shirt tied up at the 

 arms and neck, and towed through such a floating mass of 

 them. 



At times, millions of small Jelly-fish are cast upon the 

 beach, and the bather, at such times, feels as if he were 

 swimming in pea-soup. We have often been tempted, at 

 such times, to try them as food, for the late Commodore J. 

 B. Nicholson assured us that he had done so, and that they 

 were harmless, and nourishing, though tasteless. 



We cannot enumerate the larger species of dealepfm, nor 

 dilate on their marvellous methods and powers of repro- 

 duction. Many have devoted much attention to this sub- 

 ject, and Professor Agassiz has done more than all others 

 in clearing up their history. 



We claim no originality for the above proposed experi- 

 ment, but we cannot find that the subject has ever been no- 

 ticed before. 



FOE DE ROL. 



THERE is an amusing article in a late number of an 

 English magazine, in regard to the chorus of songs, 

 with a " down, deny down," and a "fal, lal-la" and "a high 

 nonnie, nonnie no," and a "hey cum trix," and other re- 

 frains of songs, where the erudite reviewer exercises, if not 

 extreme philological lore, very certainly most ingenious 

 processes of reasoning, worthy of a Max Muller. Cease 

 then, ye roysterers, around the table, or ye night revellers, 

 your profanation of "tooral looral;" give it rather an inton- 

 ing deep and solemn, for you are (says the reviewer) almost 

 on the verge of a sacrilege, for know then, ye boisterous 

 gallants, that "tooral ro oral" is Celtic or Gaelic, that "tooral" 

 is the Gaelic andante or slow movement and "rooral" the 

 Celtic presto or quicker movement. Harp music probably 

 in that early time had technical terms similar to those 

 used to-day for the piano. All these refrains, so it seems, 

 were used by the Druids to commemorate some portion of 

 their worship. Let us take a rather ludicrous example of - 

 this. There is a song called the "Friar in the well," with 

 the chorus "fal-la lanky down dilly." Now lanky and 

 langtre are one and the same thing, the true reading should 

 be "fal la-lan-ri-dun-dill," meaning "the circle of the day 

 is full, let us go to the hill of rain.''' Rain it seems must 

 have been held in high estimation by the Druids. Possibly 

 there were umbrella makers among them, because there is 

 another burst of songs, ending with a "hie dildo-dil," which 

 is resolvable into, di, dill dum dile, or ' ' welcome to the 

 rain upon the hill," which the chorus commentator says 

 was a thanksgiving for rain after a draught. 



Now, no one doubts but that "ri-um, ti iddity tiddity," 

 must have had a forefather, but man's ingenuity can take it 

 so far beyond Druidical times, as to place it in the Sanscrit. 

 The oldest chorus is the Greek one. "I-ho ! I-ho !" which is 

 distinctly traceable to the old parent races of the Hindoo. 

 " Hey-lillie-ho-lallie" is almost as old, perhaps taken from 

 the Saracen. A confused jumble of Il-allah, and "sing fol- 

 de-rol-de dee" and "diddledum-di and diddle dum do," may 

 be for ought we know, derived from church canticles, when 

 choristers sang their do-re-mt-fa, &c, Of course we do not 

 mean to laugh at such erudition, nor be classed with Syd- 

 ney Smith's friend, who despised the equator, and made a 

 joke about the pole, but occasionally the exact difference 

 between what is far fetched and ingenious is somewhat 

 difficult to determine. 



Take one of our negro choruses, for instance, "I am. 

 going to leave you— good by. Eliza Jane." This maybe 

 rendered — "I'm gwine to leave yer — Lize Jane." Apply 

 Grimm's rule to it, and you have the most curions and start- 

 ling effects. An ingenious friend worked on it for a week 

 and at last having carried it through the most elaborate 

 squeezing and twisting, got it to read from the Sanscrit. 

 4 'The horse of the sea lapped the water, " which fact we trust 

 will render Hooley classic for the future. Perhaps some 

 of our readers r. hilologically inclined, can give us some 

 other choruses — native ones, elaborately worked up. 

 There are word hoaxes at times, quite as plausible as the 

 best practical jokes. But to treat such matters seriously, 



