Ji 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



sold it to the King of Siam. Had 

 it been found by those having 

 knowledge of this fact, it would 

 probably never have left the East. 

 It is really the only elephant which 

 truthfully can be called white ever 

 brought to this country. Europe 

 has never possessed one of any- 

 kind. 



White elephants are now only to 

 be seen within the enclosure of the 

 King's palace at Bangkok, Siam. 

 There are four there now, which 

 animals, owing to the peculiar re- 

 ligious tenents of the Buddists' 

 faith, are absolutely unpurchase- 

 able. The doctrine of the trans- 

 migration of souls teaches that 

 these animals are inhabited by the 

 souls of Siamese kings. 



The white elephant which was 

 with the Barnum & Bailey show 

 was procured with great difficulty 

 by Mr. Gaylord, in Burma. The 

 present animal of the Sumatran 

 variety, an absolutely perfect ex- 

 ample of the elephant albino, is one 

 of the most interesting and curious 

 zoological specimens ever brought 

 to this country. The color is a 

 very light gray, and the skin is pe- 

 culiarly soft and delicate. About 

 the end of the trunk and about the 

 ears it runs into a light pink tint, 

 and the hoofs are a beautiful cream 

 white. The animal is male, and is 

 expected to attain a height of seven 

 to eight feet. 



Its importer, Mr. J. B. Gaylord, 

 has spent many years in collecting 

 animals for exhibition, having in 

 the course of his experience gone 

 twenty-two times arouud the globe. 

 He brought Kedah home by sea 

 through the Suez Canal, the jour- 

 ney taking fifty days. Kedah ar- 

 rived rather thin and worn after its 

 trip, but is now in prime condition 

 and bids fair to attain a good old 

 age. — Scientific A merican. 



The Fragrant Shield Fern. 



I had another gala day this sea- 

 son when with the help of a friend 

 I found the last of our New Eng- 

 land ferns — Dryopteris fragrans. I 

 have spent a good many hours 

 among our cliffs during these ten 

 years past, hunting for this little 

 fellow, and had given up expecting 

 to find it. Several times I had 

 thought it found, but it would 

 prove to be only the Woodsia II- 

 vensis. There could be no pos- 

 sible question this time as to its 

 identity. It was way up on the 

 bare, dry face of the cliff, far out 

 of reach except by some sort of a 

 ladder. But it was so unlike any 



other species, with its dry, curling, 

 snuff colored fronds of last year, 

 that I knew it was the one I want- 

 ed. We found more of it later that 

 was accessible. I think that the 

 professors who have- written our 

 description of it have never found 

 it for themselves. Its chief char- 

 acteristics are: ist — that peculiar 

 appearance of the old fronds; you 

 couldn't curl them more gracefully 

 than they appear dropping over 

 the ledge of rocks. 2nd — the glut- 

 inous fronds, they cannot be taken 

 from the paper until they are dry 

 and grass and leaves adhere to 

 them. 3rd — its peculiar fragrance. 

 Gray says "aromatic;" that doesn't 

 half tell the story. I gathered a 

 clump of it on the cliff and dropped 

 it down in my pocket handker- 

 chief, and the perfume lasted for 

 days. I think it is like new-mown 

 hay composed largely of sweet 

 briar rose leaves. Its fragrance 

 alone makes it our best fern. It 

 grows on the dryest cliff sides, 

 where everything else would be 

 scorched by the sun's heat; not 

 "especially near water-falls," as 

 Gray's Manual says. Look for a 

 place where there is a bare cliff, 

 overhanging a little perhaps, so 

 that the rain cannot reach it, and 

 up above all the trees, so that it 

 can have no shade at all, and if 

 you find a fern there, test it by the 

 perfume, its stickiness and its 

 beautiful brown curls. — James A. 

 Bates, Randolph, Vt., in The Fern Bul- 

 letin. 



Peculiar Nesting Sites. 



Sometimes birds select such uuusual 

 sites to build their nests that we may 

 wonder why they do so when there are 

 plenty of natural sites in the locality. 

 There is a large deep gulley which runs 

 at right angles from Keuka Lake and 

 in some parts of this gulley are perpen- 

 dicular banks of slatestone but mostly 

 covered with large coniferous trees. 



Projecting from one of these bare 

 slatestone banks there is a narrow ledge 

 or shelf of rocks which is about 100 feet 

 from bottom of valley and 35 feet from 

 top. Above this ledge the Dank is cov- 

 ered with moss, ferns and shrubs, while 

 below it is bare and concave. 



It was in the middle of May, 1889, 

 that I first noticed this shelf, and out 

 of curiosity I let myselt down upon it 

 by holding onto some firm roots which 

 protruded from the bank, when lo! I 

 discovered that I had dropped into a 

 Great Horned Owl's nest and there sat 

 a young Donwy Bubo trying his best to 

 stare me out of countenance. JSo at- 

 tempt had been made to build a nest- 



merely a depression in the loose pieces 

 of slatestone. In a crevice near the 

 nest there was stuffed a Ruffed Grouse 

 which was fresh and about half eaten. 



Another peculiar site was selected by 

 a pair of Chimney Swifts down in a 

 well 10 feet from top of curbing and the 

 nest being glued onto a smooth hard 

 stone and contained a family of five. 

 I removed the curb which -was a box 

 affair about 3 feet square and went 

 down to examine the nest. While do- 

 ing so the parents made frantic efforts 

 to reach their dusky children by diving 

 with the speed of an arrow into the 

 misplaced curb. I afterwards learned 

 that the young birds got out safely. 

 Date of finding uest July 14, 1895. 



Again on July 25, 1895, I discovered 

 another nest of Chimney Swift in the 

 garret of Hour mill where noisy cog 

 wheels and rumbling machinery keep 

 up an incessant racket. Yet these 

 plucky birds glued their nest to the 

 board siding and reared a family of 

 five. How they ever darted into the 

 small opening in the peak of mill with- 

 out gettiug caught in belts and cog 

 wheels is a mystery to me. It may be 

 of interest to add that although the 

 ever-present English Sparrow enters 

 this same hole to feed on the grain 

 scattered about. They did not disturb 

 the Swifts in auy manner. Nor have 

 the English Sparrows ever attempted 

 to build nests in the garret although 

 there are thousands of them here. 



C F. Stone, 

 Brauchport, N. Y. 



Field Days in the Foothills- 



August 3d. Despite our intention of 

 oeing up early this morning, it was 7 

 o'clock when I awoke. M. was still in 

 the arms of "Morpheus," but with a lit- 

 tle gentle persuasion he arose, and 

 after performing our "toilet" at a small 

 stream that ran past the "shack" we 

 swallowed a hasty breakfast and after 

 seeing to the horse and making every- 

 thing ready we left for a day's collect- 

 ing. 



We followed a cattle trail for about 

 two miles, observing no bird life of any 

 amount, with the exception of several 

 White-crowned Sparrows which no 

 doubt breed in that locality. 



After a little hard climbing we arriv- 

 ed at the top of a hill and the scene 

 that burst upon us was glorious, a reg- 

 ular panorama of hills and valleys with 

 a creek winding north and south and 

 fully 200 feet below us. 



It did not take us very long to scram- 

 ble to the bottom of the hill and cross tho 

 creek, in which I noticed the trout 

 rising hungrily at the flies. M. fortun- 

 ately had some fishing tackle and we 

 resolved to have some fresh fish for 

 supper on our return journey. 



