convinced by getting a nest of these birds.” 
And concludes with these remarkable words: 
“ Why not a bird from a ‘ chrysalis’ as well 
as a * man from a monkey ? ’ ” 
This caps the climax, and forms the anti¬ 
dimax, of which ludicrous illustrations have 
been given under the name of bathos , a word 
signifying a ludicrous descent from elevated 
to mean thoughts. Is the writer really se¬ 
rious? In which case, I can only quote the 
words from Middleton's “ No Help like a 
Woman’s 
** Heaven pities ignorance; 
She's still the turn that has her pardon sign'd, 
All sins else see t heir faults—she’s only blind.” 
In order to give some further facts, I may 
be allowed to refer to a small work revised 
by my friend, E. D. Come, Corresponding 
Secretary of the Academy of Natural Sci¬ 
ences of Philadelphia, published by T. B. 
LitfincOTT & Co., Pbila., 1809, on “Our own 
Birds,” a Familiar Natural History of the 
Birds of the United Slates, by Wm. L. Rally. 
On page 152 to 107 the subject of Humming 
Birds is clearly set forth, from an eye wit¬ 
ness, as to the manner of building their 
nests, (which 1 have myself witnessed.) 
In all the species, as far as has yet been 
ascertained, the female deposits but two 
V eggs, which are beautifully white, or 
f slightly tinged with yellow ; the period 
of incubation varies from ten to about 
sixteen days; the young, when batched, 
are quite naked and blind, but soon be¬ 
come covered with feathers, and in about 
three weeks are able to take care ot them¬ 
selves and leave the nest, becoming, in 
a short time, as active on the wing as 
their parents, from whom they can only 
be distinguished by their plumage. r l lie 
fact that, the food of these birds con¬ 
sists mostly of insects, lias been well estab¬ 
lished both by observation and experiment; 
the few individuals which have lived in con¬ 
finement have been seen eagerly catching 
such as have chanced to be In the apartment 
which they occupied ; while the quick snap¬ 
ping of the bill, similar to that of the Fly- 
was distinctly heard when darting 
SWEET POTATOES 
ittwralist 
omtstic wconunti) 
the probable source of the mistake made. | 
In order that your readers may have the full 
benefit of both sides of the question, l will 
fairly quote the contents of the note in reply 
to my former article in your paper of March 
19, No. 12, oil page 191. The first paragraph 
reads thus:—“My inquiry about humming 
birds was not intended as a ‘ hoaks,’ nor did 
I jump at a conclusion; neither am 1 Irish, 
to mistake a toad for a butterfly!” [Bird 
should have been said.] 
Well, there certainly is a vast difference 
between the various stages of a tad-pole and 
that of a frog or toad, yet. the transformation 
Is clearly understood. There is also as great 
a difference between the caterpillar and 
moth, or butterfly. But these facts give no 
license to confound a four-winged moth, or 
butterfly, with a veritable bumming bird; 
the two are as far removed from each other 
as a “ toad is from a humming bird or Balti- 
and the blunder of the Irish- 
RY .riTIiIA COLMAN. 
THE REGAL WALNUT MOTH. 
A correspondent sends ns a caterpillar 
of this moth —CJeratocampa regalis , with 
the request that, we illustrate and describe 
it. The fore wings of the moth are olive- 
colored, adorned with several yellow spots, 
and veined with broad red lines; the hind 
wings are orange red, with two large irregu¬ 
lar patches before, and a row of wedge- 
shaped olive-colored spots between the veins 
behind; the head is orange-red ; the thorax 
is yellow, with the edge of the collar, the 
shoulder-covers, and an angular spot on the 
top, orange-red; the upper side of the ab¬ 
domen and t he legs arc also orange-red ; the 
feelers are distinct, cylindrical, and promi¬ 
nent, and the front edge of the hind wings 
does not seem to be formed to extend beyond 
that of the other pair, when the wings are 
closed, it expands from five to six inches. 
CONDUCTED BY MARY A. E. WAGER. 
A COUNTRY HOUSE NUISANCE 
“ Has It feathers ? 
Yes, It has leathers.” 
IPlay of “ Slicken ." 
In the Country, Sept., 1870- 
I always envy those fortunate persons 
who have a story, an anecdote, or any other 
pleasant roundabout way to get at any un¬ 
pleasant thing they wish to talk about. Ugly 
sermons, like pills, go down better sugar- 
coated. But I haven’t caught the knack of 
sweetening bitter things; neither is it natu¬ 
ral to “ beat around the bush,” so with this 
confidential confession I may as well blurt 
out at once with my text, found in most 
country house sleeping apartments, first and 
second floors, and according to the Gospel 
of the Past, called “ Feather beds.” The 
New Gospel that calls corsets “ Grave feed¬ 
ers,” might furnish an equally significant 
name for those large bags of feathers that 
are smoothed anil patted into such symmet¬ 
rical shape by hands and broomsticks, given 
us to sleep on, and called a bed. I am not 
making “ fun” of the ancient institution ! 1 
couldn’t treat feathers in so light a manner 
They are the outgrowth of geese, and 
shouldn’t be hissed at! They suggest that 
immortal hymn about 
“ Seem soft as downy pillows are," 
and bring back the nights when cuddled up 
ono, a saintly-faced mother bent 
more oriole, 
man referred to, not a particle worse than 
snugly in 
over and heard you say: 
“ Now 1 lay me down to sleep.” 
Ah, well! these thoughts are not just the 
ones to make me see clearly, and the room 
is none too light, without the splashes ol 
water the heart throws over the eyes, when¬ 
ever it has a minute or two to itself. 
It. seems something like stabbing friends 
in the back, and in the dark, too, to have 
enjoyed their hospitality, slept in their “ best 
bed,” and then deliberately free your mind 
in this matter about it. But what is one to 
do when the interests uf humanity demand 
it? Only think of it! To find yuur.-elf 
night after night this terribly, unmercifully 
hot summer, invited to sleep in a feather 
bed, besides being morally sure that every 
other inmate of the farm-house, from the 
bead of the house down to the foot of the 
bouse, has voluntarily laid down to swelter, 
to roast, to ooze, in a bag of feathers ! 
If you have traveled fat* enough inland in 
life to be done with nonsense, you take the 
thing with a desperate grab and land it in 
one corner of the room, Then spreading a 
comfortable or blanket over I be straw or 
husk bed, you arrange the sheets and lay 
down to pleasant dreams. But if you are 
CERATOCAMFA RKGALTB. 
that committed by your correspondent; in¬ 
deed,! cannot put the case in a milder form. 
Allow me to give a brief synopsis of the 
VEHTEI1UATK ANIMALS. 
IUvmatotherma, thit warm-blooded- Animals that 
auckln or nurse their young, form the elan* Munmu- 
Ua. ThoAC that lay egK* and hatch their younn, Aven, 
° r n/n'i!fi>0CrV0, cold-blooded Animals hiivlnc lutiOT, 
respiration ferial, RtptilUt, toad*. Tlicne having Kills, 
respiration aquatic, (In their portcot state,) Finer*, 
INVERTEBRATE INSECTS. 
Thomi initially Inlvo antonme, bodies articulated in 
rliiK*, Atx articulated leKa. The ImuKo baa lour Wins*, 
caterpillars have additional prulOK* Then.* undeiKO 
several moulting* before they enter the el, via 11* 
state, nml alterwards develop Into a moth or butter¬ 
fly CtTViKK, In bis eliuedtlcallon, plae.eu the Mol- 
last’d, (containing the common oyster,) in advance of 
the Insects, tormina hi* second aab-klnKduffl, trio 
Arhrulola, third, and the ftdfMald, the fourth und 
last snb-kiugdom. 
This is deemed sufficient to teach t he great 
distance there is between the butterfly and 
humming bird, and how much more nearly 
the toad comes to it, in a scientific point of 
view; so that the Irish man’s mistake is much 
less ridiculous than the assumption of our 
correspondent. 
I will now quote the second paragraph of 
the same letter, which reads thus:—“ I know 
I the received opinion, as regards ‘ humming 
THE REGAL WALNUT MOTH 
The young caterpillars, when at rest, bend | 
the fore part of their bodies side-ways, so 
that, the head nearly touches the middle of 
the side, and their long, hom-like spines are 
stretched forward in a slanting direction over 
the head. When disturbed, they raise their 
heads and horns, and shake them from side 
t,o side in a menacing manner. The little 
caterpillars are nearly black; on each of the 
rings, except the last two, there are six 
straight, yellow thorns or spines, which are 
furnished on all sides with little, sharp points, 
like short branches. Of these branched 
spines, two on the top of the first ring, and 
four on the second and the third rings, or ten 
in all, are very much longer than the rest, 
and tipped with little knobs, ending in two 
until very little of the milk is visible. This 
also makes a very nice dish with hall or 
more Irish potatoes. No salt is necessary 
with sweet potatoes however served, and I 
am told that they arc commonly eaten in the 
South without, it. 
Baking is considered the most stylish way 
of preparing them, and if they are inclined 
to bo watery, it is the best. way. Time them 
carefully, that they may not have to wait on 
the rest of the dinner, but it they must wait, 
open the oven. Do not probe them with 
anything, it injures their appearance; try 
them with the fingers, through a cloth nap¬ 
kin, if your fingers are tyros. Any that are 
left can be warmed up for breakfast or lunch 
by simply putting them in the oven again, 
or they arc quite eatable cold. 
If they arc good, and yet too small to be 
catcher 
through the air, at once indicates the nature 
of its sustenance. 
They arrive in Pennsylvania about the 
25th of April, and begin to build their nests 
about the 10th of May. They are worthy 
of protection, as they belong to n class of 
birds that feed on insects, and take an occa¬ 
sional sip of nectar from the fipwor-cups. 
I beg our correspondent will do me the 
justice to believe that I take no pleasure in 
giving pain, but it is solely to correct the er¬ 
roneous views on a matter of such glaring 
inconsistency ; and if not. pleasing, it may 
tend to a more cautious use of the pen. It 
would have been much better to have suf¬ 
fered my article to have gone the road to 
speedy oblivion than try to justify such 
vague notions as advanced. 
j.S tauffer. 
rliiK*. *!x iirUciiInti’ll k’Kn. Till’ Iiluk’j Law l<»n' vOnf 
CHlVpIllnnt have uililltluiml Prologs. Them* unilcT| 
several moulting* thay ent«- tliejoliyaa 
unite,. ... 
tly. CtTViKK, til III* el.. 
iiiKL’it, (contalnlnu the e< 
points; these arc moveable, the insect hav¬ 
ing the power of dropping them almost hori¬ 
zontally over the head, and of raising them 
up again perpendicularly. On the eleventh 
ring there are seven spines, the middle one 
being long, knobbed like those on the fore 
part of the body; on the last ring there are 
eleven short and branched spines. 
Lancaster, Pa., 1870. 
cicntific anb 
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC NOTES, 
Protection of Lead Water!-Pipe*. 
Dr. Schwarz of Breslau, notes a simple 
method of protecting lead pipes from the ac¬ 
tion of water, by forming on I he inside sur¬ 
face of the pipes an insoluble sulphide ol 
lead. The operation, which is a very simple 
one, consists In filling the pipes with a warm 
and concentrated solution of sulphide of po¬ 
tassium or sodium; the solution is left in 
contact with the lead for about fifteen 
minutes. 
Liquid Glue. 
Experience lias shown that glue under¬ 
goes a chemical change when dried in the 
air, and its adhesive properties are decidedly 
deteriorated. To avoid this, says Prof. W ag- 
ner, in his report, for 1809,801110 of the man¬ 
ufacturer!! have introduced a pure liquid 
glue in close packages, which Is said to be 
superior to the dry article. It is prepared by 
digesting bones in a peculiarly constructed 
birds,’ and so did Galileo know the opinion 
of the world, when he said ' the earth moved.’ 
This is a clincher. I am not a fogy, and en¬ 
tertain ‘opinions’ that many of our wtvuns 
would smile at, if they would not denounce 
mu in ruder terms, so that I can sympathise^ 
with those holding‘opinions’ that the world 
will not receive till ripe for it, (provided they 
are correct.) ‘Truth is mighty and will 
prevail.’ ” 
In this case, however, I must lay my sym 
pat by aside, and while I admit that the 
earth turns, l cannot admit that under any 
circumstances humming birds come from 
the allanthna worm, or that butterflies turn 
into veritable birds, with bill, claws and 
After casting its skin two or three tunes, 
the caterpillar becomes lighter-colored, and 
gradually changes to green ; the knobs on 
the long spines disappear, tlieir little points 
or branches do not increase in size, and 
finally, these spines become curved, turning 
backwards at their points, and resemble 
horns. When fully grown, the caterpillar 
measures from four to five inches in length, 
and about three-quarters of an inch in diam¬ 
eter. It is of green color, and transversely 
banded across each of the rings with, pale 
blue; there is a large, blue-black spot on 
each side of the third ring; the beads and 
lugs are orange-colored; the ten long, horn¬ 
like spines on the fore part of the body are 
orange-colored, with the tips and points sur- 
roundhig them black; the other spines are 
short and black. It is perfectly harmless, 
healthful und unfashionable, is not their 
reign at an end? And will not all civilized, 
eomlort-loving, sensible human beings can¬ 
onize me a saint at my death, and ascribe 
me unceasing gratitude while 1 live? 
‘ Figures don’t lie," somebody once said, 
and the Yankee exclamation has become 
cryst alined into an aphorism. So I take “ fig¬ 
ures,” as I know nothing else at whose door 
the charge of veracity can so confidently be 
laid. A good feather bed, according to our 
grandmother’s vernacular, contains twenty- 
live pounds of feathers, which, at present 
valuation, is worth $1.25 per pound, or $30 
per bed, if you please, exclusive of the tick. 
Good spring beds with mattresses can he lmd 
for $15. Those with hair mattresses range 
higher. They are always “ made up,” and 
have a score of advantages over the best 
feather bed the sun ever shone on, or human 
being ever slept upon. 
In mid-winter, when old people, or inva¬ 
lids, have difficulty in keeping warm, feathers 
are undoubtedly an aid. With a spring bed, 
or a mattress without springs, (which is infi¬ 
nitely preferable to feathers,) a slight feather 
bed, such as one-fourth the feathers in an 
ordinary bed would make, furnishes all the 
softness and warmth desirable. 
It is not for “ spare beds " simply that I 
am pleading the “ exchange system,” but for 
those in every night use—beds for the tired 
bodies, the healthy bodies, yes, ancl sickly 
and lazy bodies too. If any woman, ghoul 
or human, Christian or heathen, has aught 
to say in defence of this “ Country House 
Nuisance," let her speak.— m. a. e. w. 
three hours. When done, the water should 
he evaporated to the consistency ol sirup; it 
it is not so, pour it into a shallow pan and 
reduce it separately. Then return it to the 
potato. The latter must he done soft enough 
to mash easily. Found with a pestle, and 
add a little cream or condensed milk, if dry 
enough to bear it. It should be about tbe 
consistency of common mashed potato, and 
may be served in the same manner. It is 
specially acceptable with beaus of any kind. 
As these dried potatoes may be kept any 
length of time, it is well to prepare them, 
even if the exigencies of decay do not de¬ 
mand it. They are not troublesome to cook 
after a little practice, and they are very con¬ 
venient in spring and early summer, when 
variety is scarce. They can he dried raw, 
but I have not practiced it, because of the 
trouble of paring them. I am told they have 
been idln-dried in the South, on quite a large 
scale. 
-- 
To Make Sweet Pickles. 
My recipe for sweet pickles is six pounds 
of watermelon rinds or ripe cucumbers, two 
pounds of sugar, one quart vinegar, and 
spices of all kinds to the taste; boil tbe 
melon rinds in water— or steam them, which 
is better—till they are soft enough to run a 
THE “HUMMING BHtD.” 
(The following article, referring to one in last 
volume of Rural, page 191, has been on hand 
some time, awaiting space.—E ns. Rural New- 
Yorker.] 
The dead bird, neatly packed in fine cot¬ 
ton of a pink color, inclosed in a pretty box 
like a precious jewel, with tbe note accom¬ 
panying it, came to band, and proves to be 
a female of the ruby-throated humming bird. 
Had our correspondent edified us as to the 
circumstances under which the matter of 
the caterpillar (chrysalis,) the moth, and but¬ 
terfly, with the bird figured in tbe former 
letter, were successively brought under ob- 
Sox 
ri T,: ft Ilk* 
