NATURAL HISTORY. 



*39 



broken, and sprinkled with Paris green, 

 and dropped in the gallery, which must be 

 again covered, but not filled, with a sod. 

 The spear-trap, however, is far and away 

 the best when it can be used, as moles do 

 not take poisoned bait readily. 



Where a mole is working in the early 

 morning he may sometimes be located by 

 the cracking earth. Thrust a spade deep 

 down behind the worker and with a quick 

 pry throw him out before he has time to 

 turn to one side. The trap should be set 

 immediately after a gallery cracking the 

 surface has been made, as the mole is apt 

 to go elsewhere on short notice. Another 

 way to get rid of the rascal is by drowning 

 him out. 



J. A. Newton, Grand Rapids, Mich. 



LOVERS OF BIRDS 



In the creation of birds nature has seemed to 

 express a love of beauty. Many birds appear to 

 have no mission save to charm the senses. The 

 artistic brilliancy of their coloring, the grace of 

 their motion, the melody of their note, unite to 

 add joy to the world. Thus the finer mind, such 

 a mind as loves the flower, the verdure of the 

 forest, and the matchless blue of the sky, loves 

 the bird. To harm it would be a cruel impulse. 

 One who would visit a gallery and thrust a knife 

 through some splendid canvas would be handed 

 over to the police; but there are those who will 

 kill birds apparently for the purpose of seeing 

 the gorgeous plumage disheveled and blood- 

 stained, and the little body, incarnation of inno- 

 cence and grace, fall quivering, as the song dies 

 into silence. The spirit that makes possible 

 these outrages is the outcropping of a latent 

 savagery. Birds are slain that their feathers 

 may adorn a Hat. Perhaps this strikes the wearer 

 of the hat as a trifle, but it is not a trifle; it is a 

 monstrous perversion of instincts that should be 

 gentle. As a symptom it is to be deplored. As 

 to its visible effect, it robs the forests and the 

 fields of their finest adornment. In the far land 

 where the heron breeds hunters go for the pur- 

 pose of securing trimming for the hats of wo- 

 mankind, rather than of kind for woman. At a 

 certain season the heron seeks a mate and at that 

 time he is adorned with a nuptial plume. The 

 hunter desires this plume, and shoots .the heron. 

 The slender plume is used as an aigrette, and 

 the lady who is proud of the stolen trophy wav- 

 ing above her has no thought of the female left 

 mateless, and the fledglings that must have 

 starved. If she stopped to think she would 

 blush for shame and to her eyes there would 

 come tears of pity. Fashion is a cruel mistress. 

 Her dictates demand the slaying of the fairest of 

 animate objects. The oriole, decked with flam- 

 bent yellow, the robin with breast of red, the 

 lark, the thrush, the linnet, the tiny hummer, 

 scarce bigger than the bumblebee; the soaring 

 eagle, the diving loon, the dove, emblematic of 

 peace, all are claimed as victims of this cruel 

 mistress. There can be no excuse. Wings and 

 feathers on a hat are as surely barbaric as when 

 they crown the war bonnet of an Indian chief. 

 A bird society has been formed in Tacoma, and 

 success be to it. In so far as it protects the 

 biras it will do good, and in awakening an in- 

 terest in the study of the habits and haunts of the 

 messengers of the upper air it opens a field where 

 investigation brings the student in close touch 

 with one of the most captivating themes afforded 

 by the material world. The society can dis- 

 courage the murder of birds either- by wanton 

 boys or thoughtless people old enough to know 

 better. — Tacoma (Wash.) Daily Ledger. 



SPIDER BALLOONS. 



Spider balloons, such as was seen by Mr. 

 Bray are not uncommon here. It is most 

 interesting to watch their construction and 

 launching. The spider chooses a clear day 

 with a light West wind. Climbing to the 

 top of a rock or post, she faces the wind 

 and raising the back part of her body, she 

 throws out her web. Instead of joining the 

 different threads as for an ordinary web, 

 she keeps them apart and tangles them with 

 her hind feet into a flossy, silvery white 

 mass, 2 to 10 feet long and z / 2 inch to 2 

 inches wide. Occasionally she will raise 

 and lower her body as if to test the lifting 

 power of the web. When satisfied it will 

 carry her, she spins a thread that permits 

 the balloon to float away a few inches. 

 Then giving a little spring she sails away, 

 head down, holding the thread with her 

 hind feet. Toward night, as it becomes 

 cool and damp, the balloon loses its buoy- 

 ancy and slowly descends. When it is near 

 the earth the spider lets herself down bv a 

 thread until she catches some obiect. Then 

 she cuts the thread and lets the balloon go. 

 C. Riblet, Litchfield, Mich. 



I have seen many spider balloons like the 

 one described by J. B. Grey, though to me 

 they seemed more like parachutes than 

 balloons. I saw them in Northern Ala- 

 bama, along the Tennessee river. The 

 stream is there about i]/ 2 miles wide, and 

 I have seen many spiders far out over the 

 water, as if they intended crossing. They 

 seem to have some control over the move- 

 ments of the bunch of web. I once saw a 

 spider rolling a long web as if he wished 

 to change the angle of his parachute. The 

 spiders were never large and the web sel- 

 dom more than 3 or 4 inches across, with a 

 pendant thread 50 feet or more in length. 

 On this thread the spider stays, about 2 

 feet below the bunch of web. 



W. H. T., Kyle, W. Va. 



SHOULD TEACH NATURAL HISTORY. 

 During the past 25 years laws have been 

 passed throughout our country, regulating, 

 to a certain degree, what shall be taught 

 in our public schools. The small wooden 

 schoolhouses are being rapidly replaced, 

 even in small villages, by better buildings 

 and better equipments. The old-time 

 standard of "the 3 R's" has gradually been 

 changed, until now it is common to hear 

 the school-boy talking of physiology, 

 botany and geology, as well as of many sub- 

 jects bearing on art and letters. With all 

 that is being done, the birds and animals, 

 the creatures that give us most pleasure, 

 and that, too, at all seasons of the year, 

 are left out of the curriculm. How com- 

 mon it is to find men and women who can 

 not distinguish the chirp or song of the 



