£:34r 
July lO 
Bird Wisdom. 
There is no faculty more noticeable in animals of inferior organ- 
ization to man, than that which enables them to discover fre>h 
feed’Dg grounds especially suited to their wants, whenever the cir* 
cuDiStaoces of the case may prompt them to change their old haunts 
for that purpose. Some fifteen years ago the country around Pliila- 
delphia was destructively infested with grasshoppers during the 
latter part of the summer. While this pestilent nuisance w a-'‘ at its 
climax and every clover*head and timothy blade was black with the 
insects, Golden Plovers suddenly made their appearance, as if bj 
common impulse, in countless flocks and spread themselves over tht 
afflicted region much to the surprise of the farmers. That these ir- 
regular visitants were in quest of the^ grasshoppers, and that their 
prodigous numbers had a direct connection with the superabundance 
of food, cannot reasonably be questioned. The writer had ample 
opportunities for watching them whilst feeding in the grass and 
stubble fields, and their craws on inspection were always found to 
be filled with grasshoppers. 
The migratoiy flights and nesting-places of wild pigeons are well 
known to vary according to the variable crop of m<ift in different 
sections of the country; and it is asserted by some who have oh 
served their ways, that they are in the habit of seeding off arauf- 
courierf before the grand miCTatioB commences, iu order to ascer. 
tain and report upon the subsistence question. 
Dockers, when shooting over decoys, will frequently observe a 
single fowl fly in, circle over the stools, then leave, and presentlj 
after a flight will commence thaf is sure to “mean business.** 
The movements of wild fowl in large bodies are directed by simi- 
lar precision and intelligence; and although as a general rule they 
frequent the same localities year after year, yet it will occasionally 
be noticed that feeding grounds which swarmed with fowl in the 
fall will be almost deserted bv them in the spring after an unusually 
severe \sinter. This is more particularly apt to be the case with 
such as are used by geese and marsh fowl. An extensive shoal on 
the eastern side of the Maryland peninsula, heretofore regularly 
used by lai^e bodies of geese, was not pastured by them this 
spring, the water being shallow — not over two to three feet — it was 
supposed that the grass became atuched to the ice and was torn up 
or broken Irom the roots when the ice started to move down the 
bay. 
Pond weed {potamogetofi'i^ which the Widgeon and Dusky Duck 
are extremely fond of, frequently grows to the lop of the water; and 
it was similarly noticed this spring that these fowl had descrud 
what were heretofore counted on as sure feeding grounds, and that 
they and the geese were pasturing in unaccustomed places more or 
less remote from their usual haunts. Cauvasbacks aud Redheads 
being deep divers fare better than their fellows m this pariiculi>r. 
Yalisneria, the favorite food of these two varieties, grows iu fre^h 
water shoals from seven to nine feet deep, in long, narrow, gras^likc 
blades four to five feet long below the reach of the i.e; and as it is 
the root and not the stalk that is sought for food, the Canvasback 
will almost invariably be found upon his fall feeding grounds, ai- 
riiough possibly compelled at times by severe freezing weather to 
beat up lemporaiy fcabsi^te^ce elsewhere. Mr. Wilson, the orni- 
thologist, records that “ in the severe winter of 177^-80 the grass, on 
the roots of wbich these birds feed, was almost wholly destroyed in 
the James river. In the month of January the wind continuing 
W. W. for twenty-one days, caused such low tides in lUe river 
that the grass froze with the ice everywhere, and a thaw coming up 
suddenly the whole w'as raised by the roots and carried off by the 
freshet.’* 'i he next winter a few of tbe ducks were seen, but they 
soon went away and for many years continued to be scarce. 
During a moderate “ freeze-up** there w'lU usually be one or more 
air-hules in the neighborhood of the feeding grounds of wild fowl; 
such open places will bei-een densely crowded with ducks and some- 
times gce^e, simggiing and fighting for posses^iou; aud it is asserted 
by many oldduckers that iheee air-holes aie kept from freezing over 
by preconcerted persistent action on the part of the fowl night and 
day. Wliether this be so or not, it is certain that air-holes over 
(ectiing grounds will frequenily continue open until tbe ice breaks 
np, notwiihsiaoding the temperature may most ot the lime be 
considerably below the freezing point. 
It may be affirmed that wherever the valisneria grows there will 
the Canvasback be found, and that arrant robber, tbe Redhead, 
skirmishing about him and stealing the victuals out of his mouth. 
resistless craving for this delicate morsel is the Canva-^back's 
weak point, his fate, and thousands of them annually fall victims to 
the consequences of their appetite; (wherein lies a moral.) 
Valisneria may be transplanted, or raised from the seed, and 
grows readily in any fresh water streams of sufficient depth (eight 
or nine feet) iu p.aces where the current is not loo strong. — German- 
town Telegraph. 
Cotton iiunpowdor. 
A new prep.'iratiou of gun-cotton has been made which, while it 
poss-os-'es tremendous explosive power, is perfectly safe for trans- 
portation, detonation producing the action of explosion and being 
under complete control. The foliowing interesting account of ex- 
periments made with it, taken from the Journal of the S^xiety of 
ArU indicates the great value for blasting purposes and in warlare; 
no small advantage it possesses is, that it is but slightly affected 
from dampness: “Cartridges were held in the hand, lit with fnses 
and burned with a steady blaze, while, v^hen ignited by the detonat- 
ors, they exploded with a loud report. Ten pounds were placed on 
an anvil, and an iron pile-driver weighing half a ton was allowed to 
fall fifteen feet upon it, wiihont causing any explosion. Two bar- 
rels, each containing forty pounds of powder, were placed in a pile 
of fagots. Upon these being fired, the powder burnt with a steady 
but intense flame, and without any tendency to explosion. The 
next experiments were for the purpose of illustrating the applica- 
bility of the powder to mining work, iron breaking, cic. A charge 
of two ounces of powder was placed in a hole drilled in a rough 
block of Kentish ra^ stone, four feet by two feet v. ide. and 20 
inches deep. The stone was split into five pieces by the explosion. 
A solid block of steel, [of about half a ton in weight, was bored to 
the depth of six inches, and a six-ounce cartridge was instated in 
the hole. On the explosion taking place, it was found that it was 
split in two pieces. The greatest exhibition of force, however, was 
shown In two experiments, four ingots of 8 inches square and three 
fe?t long were used. In the center of th *se four mas-es of steel as 
laid together two-pound cartridges of powder were placed, and kept 
Q their place with a few handfuls of clay. In the second experi- 
ment the fSr.r ^gots w ere each 11 inches square and the charge used 
1}^ pounds ot powder. The eight ingots were all broken in halves; 
some of these massive pieces of steel were sent flying high in the 
air. falling 30. 35. and in one case 45 yards away, while others were 
-•ent twisting over the grass, one soing over eighty yards. When 
the s.Teat weight of these masses of steel is taken into consideration, 
it will be seen that the fore- required not only to break them but to 
hurl them thus far must be enormous, ,\nd yet it was accomplished 
in one case by 2 pounds and in the other by ix pounds of powder. 
A box of powder containing 20 per cent.of water was then success- 
fully exploded by detonation, showing that the comptisition is not 
rendered useless even if accidentally damped, though, as is well 
known, mere application of heat would not even inflame it. As a 
close to the experiments a torpedo of 50 pounds of this powder sunk 
10 feet in the Swale, but not restiue upon the bottom, was fired. An 
immense body of water was projected high in the air and any vessel 
which might, at the time, have been passing over it would have suf- 
fered severely ** 
In* each grain of sand there are marvels; in every drop of water a 
world. In that great spectacle called Xature, every thing has its 
marked place and distinct rol<\ and in that great drama called life, 
there presides a law' as harmonious as that which rules the move- 
ment of the stars. Each hour removes by death myriads of exis- 
tences, and each hour produces legions of new’ lives. The highest 
as well as the lowest created organism consumes carbon and water 
to support life and its duties, and it is not uninteresting to glance at 
the food, the habits and the ways and means, peculiar to some of tbe 
inferior animals. From their petrified ejections we know wbat such 
fossilized reptiles as the plesiosaurus, etc., arc, and may some day 
be able to discover the fish and crustacea they hunted down. Ani- 
mals, when not living by th^dr own respectable efforts, are cither 
parasites or dependents; many would seem to have positive trades, 
or are connected with branches of industry. These are miners, ma- 
sons, carpenters, paper manufacturers, aud weavers, lacemakers 
even, all working first for themselves, and next to propogate tluir 
kind. The miners dig into the earth, form natural arches and sup- 
ports, remove the useless soil; such as tbe mole, chinchilla of Pern, 
the badger, the I'on ant, as w ell a» certain worm and molluscs. The 
masons build huts and places according to all the rules of archi- 
tecture, as the bees and tropic.‘d auis; there are fish that CDnstruct 
boats that the waves never can upset, and Agassiz has drawn atten- 
tion to a fish which builds its nest on the floating seaweed in tbe 
middle of the ocian, and dejmsits therein it.s eggs. The wa.«ps of 
South America fabricate a sort of paper or pasteboard. Spiders are 
weavers instead of lacemakers; one species -condnets a diving bell, 
a palace of lace. When the a*i:ronome' has need of the most del- 
icate thread for his telescope, he applies to .a tiny .spider. When the 
natur .list desires to test bis microscope, he selects a certain shell of 
a sea insect, so small that several millions of them in water could 
not be visible to the naked eye. and yet no microscope has yet been 
sufficiently powerful to reveal the beautilul variegated designs on 
the atomic shells! Aristotle remarked, and he has since been cor- 
roborated, that a variety of plover enters the crocodile's month, 
picks the remnant of food off the animals's tongue and from be- 
tween its teeth. The living toothpick is necessary, as the tongue of 
the crocodile is not mobile. The Mexican owl, w hen enjoying a 
siesta, pats itself under the guard oi a kind rat. that gives the alarm 
on the approach of danger. Parasites are everywhere, depend on no 
particular condition of the body, and are as abnudint in persons of 
the most robust as of the most debi'itated health. They are at home 
in the muscles, in the heart, in the ventricles of the brain, iu the 
ball of the eye. They are generally either in the form of a leaf or 
a ribbon, and are not necessarily, was once supposed, confined to 
a special animal. Thepsrasites of fish have l>een detected living on 
the inte^tines of binls; and there are some that, for the purpose of 
development, must pass into the economy of a second animal. 
The following are .i:iven as dates of arrival of birds 
in Canada. We have already invited a similar record, 
and our columns are still open to such fads: 
Arrival of Birds at Grafton*, Canada.— A Canadian corres- 
pondent has foTwardi-d us the following list of arrivals of birds this 
spring at Grafton. Canada: March 30. -Blue bird, lIotucMa eiolie; 
hiTH, Frinfilla hudjtonia: robin, Turdu^t Migratoriu^' black- 
bird (brown I, Graculaferrngitnra: heron. Ardea herodia^: 31, song 
sparrow, FringiUa melodia: Phoebe, Mui^cicapa uuncio a;. April 
1, pigeons (passemrer), Cofuniba tnigraloria: 3, large crow black- 
bird, Quiecaluit verficolor: 7, golden-winged woodpecker, Picu^aura 
tne: 7, sand martins, Uirundo riparia; 8, cow bunting, Einberiza 
pecortJ*.' 9, golden-crested wren, Hylrxa regulue; 11, purple finch, 
FringiUa purpurea. May 4, purple martins, Uirundo pnrpurui; 
meadow lark. Alanda tnagna: 8, swift-*, Uirundo p^la^gic-a; wood 
thrush, Turdu* nifisftZfinu/; 9, cat bird, 9, blue- 
gown waibler, Sylvia rara: 11. whip poor will, Caprimulgus tocif- 
erus; 13, tyrant flycatcher, Uuecicapa tyrannuei; 15, golden oriole, 
Oriolusi haltimoru^; Americ.^m reil>lart, Muscicapa ruticiUa; yellow 
throated flycatcher, IfueArajta ^Irirola; 16, canaries, FringiUa 
tridie: humming-bird. Trochil'Me cofubriff; 20 to 23. yellow warbler, 
Sylvia eolUatia: bobolink, Emberizaoryzicera; red-tailed fly'*atcher, 
MaecicajHi erinita; 26, cuckoo, Cuculux erythrothalma; nighthawk, 
(Japrim^dgue amerimnue'. indigo bird, FringiUa cyanea. Birds 
here, but not dated as to their arrivals. — Barn swallow, 
americana: white-billed martin, Uirundo tiridU; snipe, Sedopox 
gaUtnago: .woodcock, Scolopax mi/tor: dow'tey woodpecker. P. 
pu 0 tscen$: red headed do., P'u'ug irithrocephalu^; hairy do.. Pious 
tillosus; ruffed grouse, Tetrao shore lark, Alauda alpes- 
Iris: nuthatch (white bel iid), Sitta cardinemis: nuthatch (red do.), 
Sitta raria; tree-creeper (browni, Certhia fatnUiaris\ tree-creeper 
(black and white), C. maciilata: titmouse, Parus atrioapUlus: crow*, 
Corcus cororie: blue jay, Corvus ucristata: sparrow (field), 
padUa; starling (red-winged), Starnus pddatorius. Some others 
have come, two waxwings amongst them. 
GrELFH, Can., has its Kish Protective Association, Judge Mac- 
donald, chairman. A good hint to cimilar oocieties is afforded in a 
resolotion to canvass the district for subscriptions and members. 
“The Schnylkill Fishing Company'* is tbe oldest social dab in 
America, having been organized in May, 1732. Ttfey own two acres 
of land, pleasantly situated on the river, with a spacious kitchen 
and diniog hail. Some of the chairs and utensils are more than a 
hondred years old. An immerse pew’ter platter has the coat of 
arms and Latin motto of William Penn. ThU venerable relic has 
been lost or stolen several times, and was once. found in a fisher- 
man's seine. The officers of the clnb include a governor, conncil 
and coroner? Only twenty-five members are allowed, with usually 
five apprentices. Xo servant has anything to do with cooking the 
food. Lawyers, physicians, and merchants are seen arrayed in long 
aprons cooking beefsteaks, roasting pigs, “planking shad,'* etc. 
The fire ia hailt of four feet hickory logs. Whea La Fayette dined 
w ith the clnb be helped to cleam the knives, aad more raceR< guests 
have made theiBselves nsefml by squeezing lemons and skelling 
peas. 
Tub laryeet deer knowm re have heem taken in the vicinity ef tbe 
White Meentalns was captured by ft. W Meeerve, of Jackson, a 
few days since. The deer weighed neariy three hundred pounds. 
A STURGEON weighing 138 lbs., was canght by W. J. Burden, at 
Port Bunce, Can. 
Salmon Fiishing. 
Far up the rough Xew Brunswick coast, 
Cool, lucid streams outpour. 
From turfy bank and rugged rock, 
To chafe the bordering shore; 
From bidden, ice-cold brooks they spring 
High up the forest-land. 
From silent tarn where, lake and pool, 
Their watery worlds expand. 
Fairest of all the swift St. Croix, 
Rolls on it« rushing stream. 
With all its cool, pellucid deeps, 
With all its sparklinggleam. 
Thro' many a flowing league it drains, 
The basins of the lake, 
Bearing its gelid enrrents doivn 
To pour where surges break. 
With fume and splash tumultuous, 
It dashe^ now away, 
Past black, basnliic ledges. 
Past boulders, moss'd and gray; 
Anon, it creeps and slumbers 
'Mist overhangiug woods, 
Anon refit cts the heavens, 
From iu transparent floods. 
When melting snows at w inter's close 
Make cold the river's flow. 
Then Nature teaches thai they turn 
To wanner tides below ; 
Well-grown in size and strength they pass. 
Along the budding shore. 
The salt, warm depths of ocean, 
In great schools to explore. 
They pr.ss by banks where hazel 
Their catkins new di'*play, 
Where willow wot>da their velvet tufts 
Hang out from sprig aud spray, 
Where primroses ope their buds 
And flocks of w ild-ducks lead 
Tbeiryellow broods of ducklings 
From out the river-reed. 
fco, down into the sea they pass, 
Down torrents, swift and sheer. 
Past labyrinth of stake-nets, 
Past rock-bnilt wall and weir, 
Past huts w’here smokes of woodmen. 
Float cloud-like np tbe air. 
Past shores where Asher s camp fires 
Across the salt-tide glare. 
They reach the open sea, whose face 
Is jewell'd where they play, 
They swim the ahygs of ocean, 
Where none may trace theiv way, 
Yet still they turn year after year, 
With an unerring aim. 
To haunt the native rivers. 
From which they earliest came. 
Far North, at great St. Lawrence ftulf. 
And Anticosti’s island shore. 
And where the St. John’s boiling tides, 
Along the mountains pour, 
And far across bleak Labrador, 
In Belle-Isle’s rock-girt strait, 
Where torrent-rivers tumbling roar 
Thro' the grim, granite gate. 
Where ecean gales terrific rage, 
Aud sea-fogs veil the seas, 
And drifting bergs from Arctic worlds 
Along tbe bleak coasU freeze; 
There in Cold Stream or Satty Sonod 
The leaping salmon shoals are fouud. 
Along that surf-beat Labrador, 
Sea-Iious. and groat seals, 
The grampus and the sj^outing whale 
Roll, w here the current wheels, . 
And Dumbcrlesc the wild-fowl pour, 
O'er sandy spi: and craggy shore. 
And nightly there Boieal lights 
Blaze splendid wIiL their streaming shower 
And days are long, and twillghts^burn 
Far to tbe midnight hour. 
Gbjebkpobt, 1675. >fk 
I 
