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PUREST AND STREAM, 
[Dec. 3t, 104- 
the wren is the superior of the eagle, and hence king of 
birds, but a diminutive king — hence kinglet or roiteUt. 
This supremacy was attained by the trial of the birds, 
in congress assembled, as to which had the greatest 
powers of flight. The eagle, soaring above all the rest, 
thought himself facile prince ps, when an impudent little 
beggar of a wren that had slyly perched upon the eagle's 
broad back, rose gayly over his head, repeating the 
maneuver as often as the baffled 'king* attempted to get 
above him. Ever afterward the eagle was properly 
respectful in the presence of the mite of a wren that 
had outwitted his majesty. Many forms of this myth ap- 
pear, and sometimes the statements are given as facts. 
Thus it is hard to tell whether or not Du Pratz believes 
the story he tells in his 'History of Louisiana' (1763) 
to account for the kingship of Le Roitelet in Louisiana. 
In America we do not regard the wren with special kind- 
ness; but in Great Britain it is scarcely ever spoken of 
without some gentle, loving epithet; and the adjective 
poor, little, tiny or dear, is constantly joined to the pre- 
fix Jenny, Kitty, Titty (cf. ante Tit), Jintie or Chitty, 
when naming it." 
"He that hurts robin or wren, 
Will never prosper, boy nor man." 
says an old English proverb. 
The different "kinglets" (Regulus) of the northern half 
of this continent are so called, however, because of the 
scarlet and golden coronet of feathers worn on the crown 
of the head ; yet it is also a fact that they steal a ride now 
and then as they go to and from their semi-arctic breeding 
places on the backs of the swans and geese. 
"Lark" is a condensation of two ancient words in 
Anglo-Saxon {lam, "craft," and zverca, "a worker"), 
which meant a worker of guile; and the etymologists tell 
us "the name points to some superstition which regarded 
the bird as of ill-omen." The well-known cunning of the 
mother bird, in trying to distract attention from its nest, 
and other evidences of wisdom, such as are celebrated in 
Esop's fables, seem to me a more natural rendering of 
the fact, however. In the Scotch form laverock (the sky- 
lark an Icelandic-like variant is seen. Our "titlark" is 
copied from England, as also is our "shylark" (of the 
upper Missouri) ; while our icterine "meadowlark" is not 
a lark at all, but takes the name from being the only one 
of our eastern field birds which sings while soaring, ex- 
cept the bobolink, whose characteristics are far more 
noticeable. 
"Warbler" explains itself, as does "chat," to anyone 
who has heard the voluble chatter of this ecstatic songster. 
The latter was the "ghost-bird" of the Delaware Indians, 
due to its singing a great deal during the night, _ and 
often in a mournful way. The name of a more widely 
familiar warbler, "redstart," is German for "red-tail. 
"Tanager" is the Anglicized form of the name for this 
kind of bird in French Guiana, whence the first specimens 
were introduced to European notice; ours differ only 
generically from the South American. 
"Swallow" has no relation to the similar verb — or at 
best an exceedingly remote one — but, according to Dr. 
Skeat, signifies "the tosser," which moves to and fro in 
its undulatory flight like the swell of the sea. The bird 
is a svala all around the Baltic, and in Bowden's 
"Naturalist in Norway" is related a Swedish legend in 
point : "When our Saviour was crucified, a little bird 
came and perched upon the cross, peered sorrowfully 
down upon the sufferer, and twitted 'Hugsvala, svala, 
svala, Honom,' that is, 'Console, console, console Him,' 
and hence it obtained the name of swallow." This is 
pretty, but hardly scientific. A number of species, ot 
which our large "purple martin" and the "sand martins" 
are American examples, were named by the French after 
St, Martin, presumbly on account of their nesting in 
holes. St. Martin was the holy grave digger of old 
legends, and the kingfisher, several woodpeckers, and 
some ether birds that burrow out their homes, are dedi- 
cated to him, as well as the funereal crow and the robin- 
redbreasts (European), who brought leaves to bury the 
Babes in the Woods. In his "Fur-Bearing Animals," pp. 
23-24, and in his "Birds of the Colorado Valley," p. 369, 
Dr. Elliott Coues has compiled much curious information 
on the names swallow and martin. 
"Waxwing" refers to the cereous tips of the quills 
borne by the great northern waxwing, and by our more 
common Ampelis cedrorum. My long lists of American 
local names of birds show a great variety of appellatives be- 
longing to the latter, none obscure except "copple-crown" 
(Rhode Island), which indicates the bird's pretty crest, 
and is also the name of a prominent hill near the southern 
end of Lake Winnipesaukee. Here we have preserved an 
old derivative from that fertile root which gives us cap, 
cope, and so on. In old English the verb "to copple" 
meant to rise into a conical but not very high form. 
Thus a '"copple-crown" means a top-knot of feathers ; but . 
I doubt that it is heard anywhere else in America, except 
as applied to the hill I have mentioned, unless it is when 
a farmer's wife addresses her crested hen as Toppy. 
Vireo was the Latin name for the greenfinch, but has 
been applied to our "greenlets" on account of their color. 
In the West Indies they receive note-names, like "whip- 
tom-kelly" and "sewy-sewy." One rather rare species was 
named by Cassin Vireo Philadelphia; this referred to the 
city, but is generally written in the books as "brotherly- 
love vireo," which is absurd. All of them sometimes share 
the name "hangnest" with the orioles, on account of their 
suspended, hammock-like homes, and become, in the 
tropics, "ficednlas," or fig-tree birds. 
Ernest Ingersoll. 
[to be continued.] 
How Should Bedsteads be Placed in Reference 
to Compass? 
Paris Museum of Natural History, Dec. 13.— Some 
persons think, or think they think, that they sleep better 
if their bed is so placed that the head points to the 
north and the feet to the south. Others say that the head 
should be east and the feet west. And others still— the 
majority, I suppose — do not trouble themselves about the 
direction of their bed, being only thankful to have one 
wherein to retire and repose when the day's work is 
over. Readers having opinions on the matter, and having 
observations to adduce, might perhaps help to solve the 
problem by giving the result of their experience. It 
might be interesting also to know whether animals seem 
to have any preference for one direction or another dur- 
ing their sleep. Henry de Varigny. 
Suspended Animation. 
The question raised, recently in the columns of Forest 
and Stream concerning the possibility for frozen fish 
"coming to" — of recovering when slowly thawed out — 
have been often discussed by biologists. The recovery 
was thought possible by the well-known John Hunter, 
who went so far as to imagine that some degree of im- 
mortality was thus rendered accessible to mankind. If 
a man can be frozen, and after some years thawed out, 
he can live some thousand years easily; granted, of 
course, that he spends by far the largest part of the time 
in the lethargy of cold. Thus reasoned John Hunter. 
But before proceeding to experiment on his congeners, 
he tried the process with a carp. And the result dis- 
gusted him, as the carp obstinately refused to "come to." 
Others succeeded better. Isidore Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 
the pioneer of modern biology, says that toads may be 
entirely frozen, so entirely as to become brittle; but if 
slowly thawed they may come back to life. Sir John 
Franklin and Lerry Coste testify to having seen frozen 
fish revive, And in recent experiments, a German biolo- 
gist, Karl Knauthe, who is not in favor of the general 
opinion (he says that his frozen fishes "crepirten alle," 
that is, died) observes, however, that he has seen the 
heart of thawed fishes begin to beat anew. 
It is very difficult to obtain a conclusion on the mat- 
ter. Certain it is, however, that much depends upon the 
way in which the fish is frozen. If you freeze it when 
dead, no thawing can revive it, of course. But then, how 
must one manage to freeze the animal during life? 
Should the fish be kept in the water, or should it be taken 
out of it ? The matter needs an investigation. Observers 
may be easily mistaken if not attentive enough. Some 
years ago some tadpoles got imbedded in the ice which 
was the result of a cold snap. I cut some of the ice out 
and noticed the tadpoles. There was an opportunity 
for an observation. I made the most of it, and the re- 
sult was that, upon close examination, the tadpoles were 
found to be quite living, and not at all frozen. In fact, 
each tadpole was in a sort of little cavity in the ice full 
of water, and exactly of the form of the animal. At first 
sight the tadpoles could be supposed to be frozen in the 
solid ice; on careful examination they were found to be 
included in small water cavities in the ice, their move- 
ments, no doubt, and the slight heat produced by them 
having been enough to prevent the water immediately 
surrounding them from freezing. Of course the tadpoles 
were not very lively on coming out of the ice, but in a 
short time, being put in water at some 8 or 10 degrees 
above zero, they became quite normal, and acted very 
tadpole-ly. 
To conclude, it does not seem that the question has 
been definitely settled. Further experiments are required. 
I am sorry I cannot give more precise information in 
answer to Mr. Charles Cristadoro's interesting question. 
But some other reader of Forest and Stream may be 
better posted, and I shall have pleasure in hearing what 
he has to say. Henry de Varigny. 
Par's Museum of Natural History, Dec. 13, 1904. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
New York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
North Carolina Shooting. 
Raleigh, North Carolina. — Beyond any question the 
most striking sportsman in North Carolina is Rev. Dr. 
R. T. Vann, who is the President of the Baptist Uni- 
versity for Women at Raleigh. When he was under ten 
years of age he lost both arms in one of the wooden, 
mills which used to be used in squeezing the juice from 
the sorghum cane. He was feeding a cane into the mill, 
when one hand was caught between the rollers, and in 
his agony he reached out with the other hand, this also 
being caught. He was a wonderfully smart boy, and his 
bravery and his determination to make a man of himself 
brought to him the most generous sympathy and aid. 
He made his way through school, and then through 
Wake Forest College, where he graduated with very high 
honors. He had from his boyhood a great love of field 
sports, and determined to enjoy shooting in spite of the 
loss of his arms, one of which was cut off several inches 
above the elbow, while the other was cut off two inches 
below the elbow. His ingenuity came to his aid, and he 
rigged up an ordinary double-barrel shotgun in such a 
way that he became, if not an expert shot, one who could 
count upon getting an average of a partridge for every 
two shots, which is by no means bad. The way he rigged 
his gun was by fixing a strap around his neck in such a 
way that he could sling the gun and steady the breech 
against his shoulder. To each trigger he attached a 
leather strap, at the ends of these straps being a little 
button of wood. When hunting birds, as soon as the 
dogs made a point, he arranged his gun, with a remark- 
able quickness, and then cocked the piece with the stump 
of the right arm. The leather straps lay handy to his 
mouth, and on the rise of the birds he never failed to 
get in his work on them with both barrels, firing with 
great quickness. Dr. Vann has never lost his love for 
shooting, and this winter killed three turkeys one morn- 
ing. He was in a blind and showed his skill as a shot 
by waiting until the turkeys crossed, when he fired and 
brought down two, knocking over the third as it was in 
the act of springing from the ground to fly, these birds 
having to make a Irttle run before rising. Rev. Dr. Vann 
lias shot in many parts of this State, sometimes with 
prominent sportsmen, and every one with whom he has 
been in the field admires his shooting and also his fin* 
instincts as a sportsman. He is the president of one of 
the largest institutions in this State, and is always a very 
busy man; yet he finds time to get out in the field 
several times each season. His chief delight is partridge 
shooting. He uses an ordinary gun, and not one built for 
him, and keeps it always rigged ready for use. An ef- 
fort has been made to obtain a picture of him in the 
hunting field, but so far has failed, though later in the 
year the writer expects to get out with him and take an 
artist friend along to get some snap-shots, as these are 
really worthy of preservation to show what a practically 
armless man can do with the gun. Dr. Vann is a re- 
markable man anyway. For example, he plays croquet 
and a number of other games— tennis, for example — and 
plays them well. He can do so many things, in fact, that 
a lot of people believe he can do almost anything. Last 
year his young son Harvey was terribly injured while 
hunting, his gun having been accidentally discharged, the 
load passing through his chin from underneath. He has 
undergone several operations in a hospital, and is at 
present under treatment in one. 
The writer has told the story about the hunt with the 
pack of hounds from this county owned by Mr. Otho K. 
Holding, which was taken over,_to Chase City, Virginia, 
and which pursued a deer which crossed a fox trail. 
Some of the dogs, as was stated, returned, but eight failed 
to do so. These dogs were out several days, but all ex- 
cept one have been found and brought home. They 
chased the deer about 75 miles, as nearly as can be esti- 
mated, the animal having crossed the Roanoke River 
into North Carolina, and having then recrossed and 
gone back into Virginia. It seems that after all the dogs 
caught this deer. It was the second deer they had ever 
seen. They caught the first one after a chase of only 
about an hour. Deer are certainly unusually abundant 
just across the Virginia border. 
There has been sncw during the past few days over a 
good deal of North Carolina, the depth in the central 
section of the State being from 3 to 7 inches, and the 
weather has been quite cold for this climate, the ground 
being frozen every night for nearly a week. The snow 
does not seem to have injured partridges at all, as there 
is a very large food supply for the birds everywhere,, 
this being one of the things which has made the country 
people say this would be a severe winter. 
Great numbers of rabbits have been caught during the 
snow. It is said that Siler City, a little station in Chat- 
ham county, is the leading place in the United States 
in the rabbit trade. From that village no less than 3,000 
to 5,000 rabbits are shipped daily during the season. 
They go to all parts of this State, and also to the north 
in great numbers. It 'seems that there is a large demand 
for rabbits in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash- 
ington and Other places. The skins are sold to the fur- 
riers. In nearly all cases the rabbits are shipped dressed. 
One day the sales reached 8,000 from Siler City, this 
shipment about filling a car. Chatham county is simply a 
storehouse for rabbits. Some years ago the writer was 
hunting partridges there with a friend, and as the rabbits 
popped up we began to shoot them. A native of the 
county who was with us laughed . and said we would not' 
keep that up long, and he certainly told the truth, for 
we had half a large bag full in less than an hour. They 
were given to a darkey, and after that we left them 
alone. I believe I have mentioned the fact that up in 
Chatham the rabbit is known as the "sand horse" be- 
cause he plays in the sandy places. 
Sportsmen from the North are begining to show up at 
Pinehurst, and are enjoying a shooting in that very open 
country, where there are only scattered pines, the rem- 
nants of a once vast forest,' these trees rising from a 
regular mat of grass, which in the cold weather is brown 
and stringy, almost like pine needles, scrubby bush«s 
standing here and there, and there being runs of water at 
the foot of the hills, the country being very rolling. It 
is a very singular country to shoot in, and of this land 
the Pinehurst people have no less than 60,000 acres 
leased. They have planted cornfield peas in about sixty 
localities, besides getting the use of pea fields planted 
by farmers, and they have turned loose about 4,000 birds 
during the past twelve months. The soil is pure sand. 
It is, in fact, a vast sand region. There is all sorts of 
trap-shooting at Pinehurst, and there is one of the few 
tower traps in the country. It was built by a man who 
had seen one in southern France. There is a good deal 
of pistol shooting goingxm. In fact, Pinehurst is a great 
place for sport, and between the hunting, pistol matches, 
golf, etc., there isn't a dull day at the place, unless hvbe 
a rainy one, and even then there is always something 
doing indoors, Fbed. A, Olps. 
