BIRDS AND ALL NATURE. 
Illustrated by COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 
Vol. IV. 
AUGUST, 1898. 
No. 2. 
NATURE'S ADJUSTMENTS. 
By W. E. Watt. 
We have a general notion that what- 
ever Nature does is just right. It has 
become an article of popular faith that 
the ways of Nature are not to be im- 
proved upon. We feel that he who 
proposes something better than what 
is offered by the forces of the material 
world is by far too presumptious. We 
look upon the man who would improve 
upon what is natural much as the old 
farmer did upon the lightning rod 
man. " No, sir ; I'd never put a rod 
up over my house or barn to keep off 
the lightnin'. 'Twould be defyin' 
the Almighty. If he wants to strike 
me, do you suppose I'm goin' to 
appear before Him and say I put that 
up to stop him ? " 
When the qualities of the soil and 
conditions of the atmosphere have 
been propitious for the production of 
husk fiber, we look at the husk upon 
the corn or the beard of the wheat 
head and declare solemnly to our 
friends that the coming winter will be 
a severe one. We say that Nature 
knows what is about to occur and has 
provided for the protection of the 
grain. We infer that she has thought 
it all out beforehand and we can see 
but a small portion of her plans. It 
seems never to have occurred to us 
that grain left to shift for itself through 
the winter is just as well off and little 
likely to sustain injury when the husk 
is thin as when it is thick. 
We examine the fur of the Squirrel 
in the fall and say winter will not be 
severe because there is not a heavy 
coat on the specimen examined. We 
think Nature tells the Squirrel in some 
mysterious way that there is to be a 
light winter and that it will not be 
worth while for him to put much 
of his summer energy into hair grow- 
ing, or that he may as well count on 
frisking through the winter in scant 
garments because he will not suffer 
greatly so attired. 
We are oblivious of the fact that the 
fur on the Squirrel depends as to its 
profusion upon the general health of 
the subject and the condition of the 
fluids of his system, and that these are 
much more influenced by the winter 
he last experienced and the food he 
has recently had than by the weather 
that is to be some months hence. 
We frequently speak rapturously of 
the mimicry of Nature. The Giraffe 
escapes his enemy by appearing to be 
a part of a clump of tree trunks, the 
Butterfly felicitously reposes upon a 
limb with his gaudy colors folded away 
and an exterior presented which makes 
him appear a veritable dead leaf with 
