Natural Science News, 



VOL. IT. No. G. ALBION, N. Y., MARCH 7, 1896. Weekly, $1.00 a Year 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of interest to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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A Naturalist's Home. 



There is no place like England 

 for a rich man to live in exactly as 

 he pleases. It is the appropriate 

 exercising ground for the hobbies 

 of all mankind. You may join an 

 Agapemone, or you may live alone 

 in dirt and squalor, and call your- 

 self a hermit. The whim of the 

 late Charles Waterton; naturalist, 

 was a very innocent one, namely, 

 to make his home a city of refuge 

 for all persecuted birds, a sanctu- 

 ary inviolate from net and snare 

 and gun; and he effected his hu- 

 mane purpose. An intimate as- 

 sociate and fervent admirer of his, 

 one Dr. Richard Hobson, has giv- 

 en to the world an account of this 

 ornithological asylum; and it is 

 certainly very curious. The name 

 of the place was Walton Hall, near 

 Wakefield; and it seems to have 

 been peculiarly well adapted for 

 the purpose to which it was put. 

 It was situated on an island, ap- 

 proachable only by an iron foot- 

 bridge, and having no other dwell- 

 ings in its immediate neighbor- 

 hood. The lake in which it . stood 

 gave the means of harboring wat- 

 erfowl of all kinds while the "pack- 

 ing" of carrion crows in the park 

 exhibits proof of the protection af- 

 forded by even the mainland por- 

 tion of the estate; it was sufficient- 

 ly extensive to allow of portions 

 being devoted to absolute exclu- 

 sion, for those birds which are nat- 

 urally disposed to avoid the haunts 

 of man. "Two-thirds of the lake, 

 with its adjacent wood and pasture 

 land, were kept free from all in- 

 trusion whatever for six successive 



months every year; even visitors 

 at the house, of whatever rank, be- 

 ing 'warned off' those portions set 

 apart for natural history purposes. 

 Even the marsh occupied by the 

 herons was forbidden ground 

 throughout the whole breeding 

 season, unless in case ef accident 

 to a young heron by falling from 

 its nest; in which case aid was af- 

 forded with all the promptitude 

 exhibited by the fire-escape con- 

 ductors for the safety of human 

 life." 



The surroundings of the man- 

 sion itself were quaint and except- 

 ional, exhibiting the eccentric 

 character of their proprietor. Item, 

 a magnificent sun-dial — construct- 

 ed, however, by a common mason 

 in the neighborhood — composed of 

 twenty equilateral triangles, so dis- 

 posed as to form a similar number 

 of individual dials, ten of which, 

 whenever the sun shone, and what- 

 ever its altitude, were faithful 

 timekeepers. On these dials were 

 engraved the names of cities in all 

 parts of the globe, placed in ac- 

 cordance with their different de- 

 grees of longitude, so that the so- 

 lar time of each could be simultan- 

 eously ascertained. Near this sun 

 dial was a subterraneous passage 

 leading to two boat houses, entire- 

 ly concealed under the island, fur- 

 nished with arched roofs lined with 

 zinc plate, and arrangements for 

 slinging the boats out of water 

 when they required painting or re- 

 pair. 



Four sycamore trees, with roost- 

 ing branches for pea hens, and a 

 fifth, whose decayed trunk was al- 

 ways occupied by jackdaws, screen- 

 ed the house from the north winds. 

 Close to the cast-iron bridge en- 

 trance was a ruin, on the top of 

 whose gable, at the foot af a stone 

 cross twenty-four feet above the 

 lake, a wild duck built her nest, 

 and hatched her young for years. 

 A great yew fence enclosed this 

 ruin on one side so that within its 

 barrier birds might find a secure 

 place for building their nests and 

 incubation. For the special en- 

 couragement and protection of the 

 starling and the jackdaw, there 

 was erected within this fence a 

 thirteen feet high stone and mortar 

 built tower, pierced with about 

 sixty nesting berths. To each berth 

 there was an aperture of about five 

 inches square. A few, near the 

 top, were set apart for the jackdaw 

 and the white owl. The remain- 



ing number were each supplied at 

 the entrance with a square loose 

 stone, having one of its inferior 

 angles cut away, so that the star- 

 ling could enter, but the jackdaw 

 and owl were excluded. The land- 

 lord of these convenient tenements 

 only reserved to himself the privi- 

 lege of inspection, which he conld 

 always effect'by removing the loose 

 stone. 



The lake had an artificial under- 

 ground sluice, which issuing out 

 at a little distance into sight, fur- 

 nished the means of cultivating a 

 knowledge of the mysterious hab- 

 its Of the water rat; this stream 

 then passed through one of the 

 lovliest grottos in England. Near 

 this place were two pheasantries, 

 the central portion of each consist- 

 ing of a clump of yew trees, while 

 the whole mass was surrounded by 

 an impenetrable holly fence; the 

 stable yard was not far off; and 

 hence the squire had infinite op- 

 portunities of establishing the im- 

 portant fact, as he considered it, 

 that the game cock always claps 

 his wings and crows, whereas the 

 cock pheasant always crows and 

 claps his wings. Mr. Waterton's 

 interest in natural history was, 

 however, by no means confined to 

 the animal creation. He concern- 

 ed himself greatly with the culture 

 of trees (though by no means of 

 land) and hailed any lusus natura 

 that occurred in his grounds as 

 other men welcome the birth of a 

 son and heir. Walton Hall had at 

 one time its own corn mill, and 

 when that inconvenient necessity 

 no longer existed, the millstone 

 was laid by in an orchard, and for- 

 gotten. The diameter of this cir- 

 cular stone measured five feet and 

 a half, while its depth averaged 

 seven inches throughout, and its 

 central hole had a diameter of 

 eleven inches. By mere accident, 

 some bird or squirrel had dropped 

 the fruit of the filbert tree through 

 this hole to the earth, and in 1812 

 the seedling was seen rising up 

 through that unwonted channel. 

 As its trunk gradually grew through 

 this aperture and increased, its 

 power to raise the pondrous mass 

 of stone was speculated upon by 

 many. Would the filbert tree die 

 in the attempt 0 Would it burst 

 the millstone? Or would it lift it? 

 In the end, the little filbert tree 

 lifted the millstone, and 1863 wore 

 it like a crinoline about its trunk, 

 and Mr. Waterton used to sit up- 



