52 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July io, i9°9- 
Vagaries of Forest Trees. 
II._The Birch Tree. 
The individualism of trees is as marked as that 
of men. Look at a crowd of people and in the 
mass they all appear alike. But scan their faces 
and you discern not only types but differences 
of features that render no two alike. Walk 
through the forest regardlessly and the trees will 
all look alike, except for size or bark. So strong 
is the general similarity that some persons can¬ 
not distinguish one kind from another, and prob¬ 
ably few occasional visitors in the forest know 
by sight other than the very common trees. 
Besides the habit of growing upon boulders, 
shared with the spruce, the birch has some 
vagaries of its own. The most marvelous sights 
can only be appreciated in nature, no photograph 
being able to indicate their astonishing positions. 
A large birch, for example, was found growing 
upon the top of a flat boulder ten feet in width, 
over the sides of which the tree had wound its 
knotted roots like the tentacles of an octupus. 
Another was found suspended on the side of a 
SUSPENDED ON THE SIDE OF A ROCK. 
rock, held in position by the roots which run 
in various directions around the rock like cords 
around a bale. Rocks protruding from the hill¬ 
side may be found occupied by birch trees, the 
roots of which run horizontally into the hill, 
appearing from below to have no anchorage. 
You wonder that the tree does not succumb to 
the first strong wind. 
The birch seems to have a special liking for 
growing upon stumps and logs. In this, indeed, 
it shows a cannibalistic taste, for usually it se¬ 
lects a dead member of its own race as the 
source of its nourishment. Or it may be likened 
to a hydra, for out of one stump it will cause 
several young saplings to spring. But when the 
saplings choose a fallen log for their resting 
place, a particularly unique sight occurs, looking 
as they do like some gaunt birds of prey perched 
upon a dead animal. In the course of time the 
underlying log of course will rot away, and then 
the young trees stand high above the surface on 
their stilt-like roots, looking very much like a 
pictured procession of young giraffes. 
These are all odd habits of the birch rather 
than the law of its growth. Ordinarily you find 
it as conventional as the beech tree and as true 
to the family traditions, but happen upon a boul¬ 
der bed, and if any birches are in that region 
you will find freaks. Each tree has a surprise 
for you, for from one you cannot imagine what 
the next will be like. 
George Haws Feltus. 
[to be continued.] 
Bird Notes. 
Minneapolis, Minn., July 3 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: For two years our neighbor has 
had a bird house on his barn and each year, 
with the coming of spring, a pair of wrens have 
built their nest and reared their young here 
without any molestation by other birds. I had 
never thought to put up houses to accommodate 
my feathered friends, but last winter my neigh¬ 
bor remodeled his barn and in the changes the 
bird house was broken. He did not care to 
make another, so I determined to make several 
houses and encourage the birds to come to my 
home. 1 constructed four which I placed in 
various trees near my home. One of these was 
specially made for wrens and had an opening 
just large enough to admit their tiny forms. 
On each side of the box I bored holes to admit 
some light and a little air and when I had it 
up and ready for the first occupants, I breathed 
a sigh of relief and sat down to wait for their 
coming. 
Late in the spring a pair of catbirds came 
around and from their inquisitive ways I judged 
that they intended building in one of my trees. 
Everything was done to encourage them to do 
so and shortly after they began to build in a 
box alder tree in the orchard. The pair worked 
together and were always busy. That is one 
point in favor of the catbird. It is always un¬ 
obtrusive, never meddling with other birds’ af¬ 
fairs. And what a songster! Often from my 
study window. I watch and listen for him as he 
warbles an endless succession of dainty notes. 
Even now as I write he comes to the tree by 
the window and peers in sort of inquisitive, as 
if he wished to further his acquaintance with 
me. Creeping up to the window I imitated his 
song so successfully that he moved nearer and 
listened with head inclined to one side. Once 
I was amused to hear him pipe his song with a 
worm held fast in his beak. 
Just now he is kept busy feeding four hungry 
youngsters, yet often he finds time to alight on 
the limb that brushes the window and send out 
a guttural note, as though to ask me if I am 
on friendly terms. 
The wrens put in their appearance as in for¬ 
mer years, and one morning I heard the male 
shrilly piping away on our neighbor’s barn. It 
must have been a sad day for them. I watched 
them longingly. Two days and finally two 
weeks passed, but at last one day the male bird 
was heard singing in the tree where my bird 
Jiouse was. In a moment I was out. Both birds 
were flitting about the box; I was gratified and 
the birds seemed happy. In and out of the 
house they darted, each time having some new 
fact to reveal to each other. However, they 
did not at once begin to build for the reason 
that the sparrows came to bother them. I took 
down the .22 caliber repeater and oiled it up 
for business, and one day when a host of spar¬ 
rows flew down I began my work of destruc¬ 
tion. One I shot on the very house and others 
all around the yard, and within a day or two 
I was wondering where the sparrows had dis¬ 
appeared to. For several days the wrens steered 
clear of my house, but at length they returned 
and shortly thereafter went to work making 
their nest. It is wonderful how fast they build. 
I could not but admire these progressive little 
things who are so very small. Their whole life 
seems a constant song of happiness. Ofttimes 
the male would fetch a twig or straw that he 
could scarce carry, but he hung to it and aftei 
much work finally reached the houses. Day b) 
day went by and now there repose in the mos 
neatly made nest that I have seen some smal 
eggs which I hope some day will develop intc 
v.- r ,u Robert Page Lincoln. 
A Volcano that Rose in a Night. 
In the island of Savaii, in the Samoan group 
during an August night in 1905 there arose fror 
the midst of a peaceful cocoa plantation a vol 
cano that in the four years of its still ceaseles 
activity has sent forth more molten lava tha 
protruding from the hillside. 
has any volcano of which there is huni 
record. To-day this flow of lava, in some pla 
seven hundred feet in depth, is filling up 
sea along a frontage of more than seven mi 
has destroyed about fifty villages and as m; 
square miles of what was once the most p 
ductive area in all Samoa. 
From Apia, about fifty miles away on 1 
island of Upolo, it is sometimes possible 1 
read at night by the glare of the Savaiian " 
cano, whose twin pillars of vapor by day 
come transformed then into columns of 
Above the ever-seething lake of fire within ; ; 
crater hangs a great crimson cloud, while e 1 
miles distant the volcanic cone appears a let 
cloud, sometimes divided into many column 1 
apparent fire. It is but the steam arising M 
the sea, colored by the red glowing lava l *| 
pours a Niagara of fire over the cliffs that*! 
ceaseless torrent of molten rock builds hi; 
and higher every day. The ocean steal * 
touching at Apia pass within close hailing s ' 
tance of this dramatic spectacle. 
Scientists who have seen the most recent * 
claim that every minute three hundred thoul 
Concluded on Page 78. 
