7G 
The jYediiTiilistii 
A Bird’s Foresight. 
In C’alitomia tlie woodixicker stores 
acorns away, although he never eats 
them. He bores several holes, differ-' 
ing-slig'htly in size, at the tall of the 
year, invariably in a pine tree. Then 
he finds an acorn, which he adai>ts to 
one of the holes prepared for its recep¬ 
tion. But he does not eat the acorn, 
for, as a rule, he is not a vegetarian. 
His object in storing' away the acorns 
exhibits foresight and knowledge of 
results more aki*n to reason than to 
instinct. The succeeding winter the 
acorn remains intact, but, becoming 
satiirated,is predisposed to decay,when 
it is attacked by maggots, who seem 
to delight in this special food. It is 
then that the woodpecker reaps the 
harvest his wisdom has provided, at a 
time when, the ground being covered 
with snow, he would experience a diffi¬ 
culty otherwise in obtaining suitable 
or [)alatable food .—Science Series. 
A Reply. 
San Leanoko, Cal., Jan. 1887. 
(diaries P. Guelf. 
Dear Sir: - 
Mr. Beekman’s somewhat sweejiing 
criticism in the last issue, leads me to 
suspect that during \\\^ personal practi¬ 
cal wairk he has been thrusting into the 
llame of a candle a jiiece of limestone 
or dolomite, wdiich some one informed 
him was cryolite, with the result that 
it did not melt. 
I have had a practical example of 
IMr. Beekman's identillcation of min¬ 
erals! 
Ab'i-y truly,, 
B. F. 31 A SON. 
Coinfjaiuoit. 
The Intelligence of Birds. 
Dr. (Charles 0. Abbott describes in 
Science some interesting experiments 
on the intelligence of birds. When 
he girdled branches on which bii’ds 
had built their nests; and thereby 
caused the foilage t(f shrivel up so 
that the nests were exposed, the birds 
aliandoned the nests, although they 
had already laid theii' eggs. But in a 
case in wdiich the nest already con¬ 
tained young birds, the old biixls re¬ 
mained, notwithstanding the exposure 
of the nest, until the young ones were 
able to fly. He placed a number of 
pieces of Avoolen yarn—red, yellow, 
purple, gi’cen and gray in color—near 
a tree in which a pair of Baltimore 
Orioles were building a nest. The 
pieces of yarn were all exactly alike 
excejit in color. There was an equal 
number of each color, and the red and 
yellow' pieces were purposely placed 
on to^). The birds chose only the gray 
jiieces. putting in a few juirple and 
blue ones w’hen the nest was nearly 
finished. Not a red, yellow or green 
strand was used. Dr. Abbott con- 
(dudes from his observations of the 
building of bird’s nests that the female 
bird is exacting, obstinate and tyran- 
ical, and not at all dispiiseel to give in 
to the wishes of her lord and master. 
The site of the nest is selected alft r 
careful examination of suitable lo( al- 
ities by Ijotli birds. 
A Kentucky coffee tree was felled a 
levy years ago in 3Iontgomery C’o., Kas. 
which measured five feet in diameter 
and eighty feet to a limf). It w'as, we 
think, the largest tree of its species 
whose size has been recorded. 
