A Ciiuiiins Fish. 
He who goes fishing in our quiet in- 
land watei's soon becomes familiar with 
the pretty golden and ruddy sunfish, but 
no angler, simply as such, ever saw this 
lively creature at its best. It is one thing 
to catch them, which is too easily done to 
consider sport, and another and far no- 
bler thing to watch ■ their winning ways 
when guarding their nests. He who 
does this will realize what a fish really 
is, for to credit those animals, as a class, 
with a modicum of common sense seldom 
occurs to anyone. But this much can be 
set down as incontrovertible — a lish is no 
fool. 
Not long since, as I was passing over a 
little bridge, I noticed a big mother sun- 
fish in a violent state of trepidation, and 
paused to determine what was the trouble, 
writes Dr. Charles C. Abbott in the 
American Agriculturist. A single glance 
told me the whole story; a host of little 
nunnows were darting in at the eggs that 
covered the little space of a shallow nest, 
and the fish was defending them as best 
she might. The attacking minnows were 
in two bands, and as one of these were 
chased away, the other ruslied into the 
depression in the sand. But before they 
could seize the eggs, or so I thought, the 
sunfish returned with a rush and scattered 
the intruders. 
So it kept up and apparently would 
have never ended had not a formidable 
enemy of the sunfish appeared upon the 
scene. This was u huge sucker, and en- 
tirely too powerful a foe to be met in 
single combat. The sunfisli recognized 
this at once, and hit upon a happy expe- 
dient, which succeeded admirably. In- 
stead of vainlj'' darting at tlie sucker, it 
sped round and round its nest with incon- 
ceivable velocity, and so stirred up the 
water that tlie intruder was frightened or 
bewildered, and beat a hasty retreat. 
It was all a matter of a few minutes, but 
how much transpired! The little min- 
nows proved their cunning by their tac- 
tics but what a deal of quick wit centered 
in the brain of tlie sunfish. 
■♦■ 
Mr. Chas. F. Carr, of Madison, Wis., 
has again entered the publishers' world, 
presenting Volume 1, No. 1, of the Wis. 
conain Naturalist. It has sixteen pages, 
exclusive of cover, the latter, by-the-way, 
being decorated with an excellent full 
page engraving suggestive of various 
branches of nature. 
The following interesting table of con- 
tents is presented: Salutatory, Do An- 
imals Reason; A Trip to the Natural 
Bridge, Marine Illumination, Passenger 
Pigeons Nesting in Wisconsin, Black 
Terns Abandoning Their Nesting Haunts 
Excavating a Mound on the Shores of 
Lake Mendota, List of Turtles in the vi- 
cinity of Madison, Random Notes and 
News, The Indoor Aviary, The Fresh 
W^ater Aquarium. 
Encom-age Mr. Carr by sending 50 cts. 
or a year's subscriptiou. 
CLIPPINGS. 
Facts, Theories and Observations in 
THE World Nature . 
A great many "land-locked" salmon 
were lately placed in the river Tliames by 
the Thames Angling Association, in the 
presence of several gentlemen, who have 
a deep interest in the development of 
fresh- water fisheries. This species of 
salmon is considered to be admirably 
adapted for a life in the Thames, as it is 
not a migratory one. Fish that quit the 
vvaters of that river for the sea are not 
likely to return to it ever again, as the 
lower portion of the Thames is little bet- 
ter than a huge sewer. 
This is the Bruce system of balloon 
signalling: An ordinary balloon of very 
transparent material is employed. In the 
side of the balloon electric glow lamps 
are arranged. The balloon is a captive 
one, and the rope which attaclies it to the 
earth is utilized for the support of wires 
to convey the electricity to the lamps. 
When the balloon is sent up at night the 
lamps are caused to illuminate the balloon 
at intervals of longer or shorter duration 
so as to present signals to the distant ob- 
server, in accordance with the Morse al- 
phabet. 
It is announced that Messrs. Appert, of 
Blichy, France, have discovered a pro- 
cess that will make glass-blowing by the 
mouth unnecessaiy. Many attempts have 
been made to get rid of this painftil pro- 
cess in the operation of glass making, but 
to this day, in every bottle house may be 
seen pale-faced men with their cheeks 
hanging limp in folds, the result of years 
of glass-blowing by the mouth. Cases 
have been known in which men's clieeks 
have been worn so thin that they have ac- 
tually cracked, and it is a common sight 
in a bottle house to see blowers at work 
with their tliin cheeks puffed out like tlie 
fingers of a glove. 
A great discovery of fossil footprints 
has just been made at Bosworth's quarry 
in Holyoke. Here is a clean surface of 
shale about 100 by 40 feet, on which arc 
seen about 200 tracks. Nearly all of them 
are in rows, the longest row containing 
seventeen tracks. The tracks are from 
six to eight inches in length, and were 
probablj^ made by a reptile, that, if it had 
front feet seldom used them. This is 
without doubt the largest uncovering of 
tracks since the daj's of President Hitch- 
cock. 
■ Carrier swallows are now used in 
France by the military authorities instead 
of pigeons. A test was recently made at 
Rauboix, and fifteen of the birds were 
given absolute freedom of wing for the 
first time. They flew in different direc- 
tions, and in about twenty minutes one 
came back and perched on the trainer's 
outstretched finger. In half an hour 
every swallow was back. 
A London physician who is an expert 
in diseases of the eye, says that he reeent- 
y had a patient who, by excessive smok- 
ing had bi-ought on '-an attack of amblyo- 
pia, with a centaai scotoma." That 
ought to be a warning to the smoker. The 
plain English of it is that the smoker's 
vision had become dull and weakened, 
and that he was afilicted with a ilizziness 
which caused him to imagine that his 
head was constantly spimiing around. 
Among the successful inventions in the 
practical application of electricity, the 
United States may claim the telegraph, 
the telephone, the ncandescent light, and 
unquestionably the microphone also. 
This is a brilliant record. To France be- 
longs the credit of the accumulator and 
the Gramme ring; to Italy, the battery 
and the Pacinotti ring; to England, the 
self-excitiug dynamo; to Germany, the 
drum armature, and to Russia, the com- 
mercial arc lamp. 
It has recently been proven by meas- 
urements that France is undergoing a pro- 
cess of slow sinking which may lead to 
serious consequences. Since 1884, the 
"genie" corps of engineers have been en- 
gaged in effecting level measurements 
over the whole country, and it has been 
shown that the country sinks from the 
south toward the north. Thus between 
Marseilles and Lille — a distance of 540 
miles — the sinking amounts to ten inches 
annually. If this movement continues, 
the northern part of France may in a few 
centuries become submerged. It may 
here be mentioned that off the coast of St. 
Malo, in fine weather, fossilized trunks of 
trees may be seen at the bottom of the sea, 
indicating that these parts were once 
above water. 
You may find hens in a hennery, but 
don't look for bats in a battery. 
A naturalist has drawn the following 
likeness between human beings and 
the ant: Their extraordinary likeness in 
many respects to human beings is perhaps 
the most wonderful thing about them. To 
begin with, they live in large cities of 
their own building; they have a queen in 
each community to whom they show most 
loyal respect and devotion; they have an 
army of soldiers to protect the busy 
workers, they keep slaves; they make use 
of a certain insect called the aphis, much 
as we make use of cows; they are fond of 
their homes and are ready to fight vigor- 
ously all invaders; they are careful and 
tender in cherishing their young; they 
lay up stores for the winter; they are most 
particular to clear away rubbish from 
their dwellings; they even seem to have 
certain ceremonies on occasions such as a 
formal funeral. We should not be sur- 
prised to learn that although the ants are 
said to resemble human beings in these 
particulars, they, as a matter of fact far 
excel them in thoroughness of execution. 
The nests which they build for themselves 
are described as houses full of passages 
and rooms, or as cities full of streets and 
houses, always partly below and partly 
above ground. 
