FOREST AND STREAM. 
105 


THE HERONS. 

N reference to an article lately published in the ForEst 
AND STREAM on the depredations of the Night Heron, 
commonly known as the ‘‘ Quawk,” (Nyetiardea Gaudenii,) 
we give the following history of the Herons, in reply to sev- 
eral letters which we have received from different quarters, 
mentioning like depredations committed by the Great Blue 
Heron, (Ardea herodias.) 
All Herons are nocturnal in their habits, although they 
sometimes feed during the day, particularly) late in the 
seascn. They are all provided with their natural lantern, 
which they use with great success. There are sixteen 
species of Herons found in the United States. The largest 
and most powerful of these is the great Blue Heron (Ardea 
herodias) and Florida Heron, (Ardea wardemanni,) which 
greatly resemble each other in size and color, and by some 
naturalists are considered as one species, although they dif- 
fer widely in their distribution. The great Blue Heron 
ranges from Canada to South America, and from the Pacific 
to the Atlantic ocean, whereas the Florida Heron only 
oceurs in the Southern States. They are both gorman- 
dizers of the first water, and devour fish, young birds, mice 
and marine insects without distinction, The next in size 
and the most, beautiful of the larger Herons, is the Audu- 
Sonia occidentalis, (great White Heron.) This is indeed a 
magnificent bird. When standing it is full three feet high, 
and as white as snow, making it a very conspicuous object 
when standing on the bank of a river, or when wading on 
the flats. The beautiful white plumes often observed in 
ladies’ hats, are taken from the back of this bird. The 
great White Heron is found throughout the southern United 
States, but is most common in Florida. The next in size 
is the California egret, (Herodias egretia,) a close relative of 
the Audubonia occidentalis, and an inhabitant of southern 
California and the southern States. Its plumage is white, 
and its bill is very long and of a yellow color. Its back is 
furnished with plumes in the adult stage of plumage. The 
bittern, or stake driver, (Botwurus centiginosus,) is commonly 
found throughout the United States, and is one of the most 
widely distributed of birds. He is a quiet, peaceful fellow, 
who lives in the marshes and preys upon small fish, frogs, 
aquatic animals and mice, but should you break his wing 
by a chance shot, you will find him a formidable and deter- 
mined enemy. With drooping wings, and with plumage 
erect, and neck drawn back until nothing: is visible but 
the sharp beak and small yellow eyes, he will attack you 
savagely with his bill until he is laid low from a blow with 
yourramrod. The bittern differs from the rest of the Heron 
family in being more diurnal in its habits, and laying its 
eggs on the ground. 
The Night Heron (Wyctiardea grandenit) is found in every 
State in the Union, and is a very numerous species. They 
breed in colonies, generally in a dark swamp, where they 
retire during the day, but as night approaches they 
become uneasy, and when it is fairly;jlark they leave 
their roosts singly or in pairs for their favorite sand bar or 
mud hole, there to stand on one leg as immovable as stakes 
to strike their unwary prey, that glides beneath them. 
These are the birds that utter the sudden ‘‘ quak”’ directly 
over your head when you are sitting quietly fishing some 
summer evening. The Blue Heron (Floridu caerulea) is a 
resident of the southern United States, and is most numer- 
ous about the lagoons of Florida. The different stages of 
plumage of this bird would greatly deceive the amateur 
collector. The first year its plumage is pure white, the 
second year the ends of the primaria, or wing feathers, 
and the scapulars, or back, are blotched with a blueish 
tinge; the third year the blue on the wings, rump, and 
crest becomes more conspicuous, and the fourth year it has 
the adult plumage of a purplish blue. The Louisiana 
Heron (Demié gretta ludoviciana) is another southern species 
found abundantly in Florida, and*is distinguished by its 
long, slender neck and beak, being rather a lighter built 
bird than the other herons. The Louisiana Heron is bluish 
on the upper parts, whitish underneath; the plumes of the 
back are a bluish brown color, and its head is adorned with 
a pendant crest composed of five or six white feathers. This 
is the most active of its tribe, and pursues its prey with 
great rapidity. The White Heron (Herodias egretta) is rather 
a larger species, witha pure white plumage, and in all prob- 
ability the adult of Herodias Oalifornica. The snowy Heron 
(Garzetta candandissima) is a resident of the Gulf States, and 
is seldom seen further north than Virginia. This species 
has not an equal for beauty among the smaller herons, It 
has a bunch of snowy plumes on its back, and when the 
plumes are erect,they give the bird a magnificent appearance. 
The Seminole Indians of Florida often rob the snowy heron 
of its plumes, which they wear as an ornament and sell for 
a high price. The Peales Egret (Dermigretta peali) and 
Reddish Egret (Dermigretta Kufa) are peculiar to the South- 
ern States, and are not so abundant as other species ; they 
breed in company with other herons, but occasionally form 
small colonies of theirown. The Yellow crowned Night 
Heron (Nyctherodius violaceus) is a solitary species frequent- 
ing the bayous and lagoons of Florida. This species is 
rather common on the Indian River and its tributaries, and 
is strictly a Southern species. The Green Heron or Poke, 
Ardea virescens) is perhaps the best known of its genus and 
is a common resident in ‘every quarter. The millpond, 
canal, river, creek, marsh and brook are all the home of the 
Pokes, where they are often seen feeding during the day. 
The Green Heron breeds in single pairs or in small colonies, 
according to the number there may be in. one locality. 
Where there are extensive marshes they are generally found 
in communities. The Least Bittern. (Ardetta exilis) is, the 
smallest of all the herons, standing scarcely eight inches 
high and greatly resembles its big cousin, the Stake Driver, 
in plumage. 
grass or rushes, and remains concealed and will not remove 
unless kicked over by the foot of the hunter, 
common species, but stragglers are found all over the 
United States. 
ing the Bitterns build their nests in trees. 
semble each other in color, being nearly all a pale green. 
Their nests are composed of sticks laid carelessly on a hori- 
zontal limb, where it is often blown off by the wind, or their 
When wounded it immediately skulks in the 
It is not a 
The herons are all gregarious and except- 
Their eggs re- 
eggs rolled out of it to be broken on the ground below, 
where they are devoured by crows, or skunks. 

— oa 
NO MORE DESERTS. 

UST as our gazeteers have to be remodelled every year, 
so have our geographical charts to be changed. If Prus- 
sia for the last decade has been the horror of map-makers, 
now that railroads are stretching out their long feelers, how 
much more rapid are the alterations they have made in topo 
graphy. Our school days are not so far distant but that 
we remember that mysterious locality pitched somewhere 
midway between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, 
called the Great American Desert. If Africa rejoiced in a 
Sahara, reasoning by analogy, map-makers gave us one. 
Writers of twenty years ago applied this term to whole sec. 
tions of country, somewhere about the hundredth degree of 
west longtitude. That a barren waste does exist about this 
locality, no one doubts, but recent research has very much 
curtailed its area. Dr. Cyrus Thomas declares that the 
barren district runs through the centers of Dakota, Nebras- 
ka, and Kansas, just skirting the western portion of Indian 
Territory and Kansas. The question which most occupies 
our attention, is the one which scientists are now discussing 
in regard to the exact temperature of these barren regions, 
and the rain falls. Dr. Thomas seems to have paid the 
closest attention to these meteorological conditions, and 
has pretty nearly determined that west of Cheyenne, the 
average rainfall is not sufficient to produce ve getation. The 
soil, he states, is good, excepting were over-impregnated 
with alkali. As to rain-fall between 1867 and 1871, the 
average rain-fail was only 14.09 inches, less than half that 
of Iowa or Minnesota, while in Nebraska the average for 
the same period was 31.47. The New York Times, in treat- 
ing of this most interesting subject, says:— 
“The Great American Desert, independently of any min- 
eral treasures it may possess, is not the useless wilderness 
represented to be, neither has it everywhere the richness 
that is found in lowa and parts of Minnesota. Where it is 
less adapted for the plow it may be well suited for pastoral 
purposes, the spots ‘that are the least useful being only to 
be found at intervals, and nearer to the foot of the Rocky 
Mountains.” 
What is wanted in this country is evidently tree planting. 
That all these arid plains, thousands of years ago, were 
covered with trees seems to be highly probable. From 
their laying flat, the forests, once on fire, were consumed 
to the very last tree. In Nebraska the people seem to be 
wide awake to the necessity of not only drawing the water 
from the clouds, but of keeping it there by tree culture. 
One farmer. in Nebraska, two years ago, planted 120,000 
trees, and the State, under certain conditions, following out 
Dr. F. B. Hough’s admirable ideas, exempts from taxation 
the property of settlers who cultivate trees. 
Is it too much to imagine that the time will come when 
all these arid wastes will be reclaimed, and bioom again 
like a garden? When fertilizing rains shall fall once more 
aud make the desert an oasis? Data on such subjects, 
giving man’s mastery over climate and even soil are per- 
haps wanting. That sections of country have been re- 
claimed is very evident. How many centuries of civiliza- 
tion it has taken, we have no means of determining. But 
if we argue the opposite way, starting from data of coun- 
tries once green with foliage, dense with woods, abounding 
with streams, but to-day scorched and arid wastes, unin- 
habited by bird or bcast, the examples would be plenty. 
We can destroy much more rapidly than we can create. 
Isolated efforts, then, of tree planting may in time be effec- 
tive to reclaim this desert, but what we must again urge, is 
collective legislation, making it imperative on all settlers to 
plant trees in the neighborhood of the so-called American 
Desert. 

—-3 
CAN THE JELLY-FISH SUSTAIN LIFE? 
ee a 
T would be an experiment worth trying to determine 
whether the acalephw,or Jelly-fish of the ocean could sus- 
tain.life, when taken as food by castaway mariners. They 
certainly do not contain much solid substance, but that lit- 
tle must be nourishing, for many fish live exclusively on them. 
All the herring family, including Shad, Menhaden, and the 
smaller species live on nothing else. We haveseen the Men- 
haden feeding onaspeciesof Jelly-fish the size of a pigeon’s 
egg, in Jamaica Bay. The pearly iridescent Jelly-fish were 
drifting with the tide, and the glistening Menhaden were 
darting in every direction after them, flashing in the snn- 
light, or suddenly disappearing as their sides or backs were 
seen. Weshall not soon forget the sight. 
The flesh of the Herring tribe is peculiarly rich, oily and 
nutritious, and must be entirely composed of the solid parts 
of the Jelly-fish, chemically changed by digestion. If these 
‘creatures can, therefore, sustain life, the fact ought to be 
generally known. 
Another point to be determined is whether the J elly-fish 
would not also supply the thirsty mariner with all the fresh 
water he might need, when in distress. We cannot affirm 








it as a fact, but we believe that these fish contain little or 
no salt, and that their transparent arid soft substance is 
chiefly composed of fresh water. 
If they should prove to be a sufficient substitute for meat 
and drink, the ocean would be divested of part of its terrors, 
and we should no longer hear harrowing tales of the suffer- 
ings endured by the survivors of foundered vessels, leading 
to the extreme necessity of eating each other. 
is alive with numerous kinds of Jelly-fish, from the huge 
qual or medusa, and the Portuguese man-of-war, to the mi- 
nute atoms that cause the phosphoresence of its waters when 
stirred by the wind, or by the vessel ploughing through it. 
Some are in bead-like chains, as' large as ‘a pea ; others are 
in the shape of an egg, while the largest are formed like a 
mushroom, with a fringe of long, thread-like appendages 
around the margin of their disk. These threads each con- 
tain a wonderfully contrived stinging apparatus, consisting 
of a microscopic harpoon, beautifully barbed or serrated, 
connected with a coil of thread, that brings the little weapon 
back to its sheath after it has been darted out at any object 
touching the sensitive tentacles. 
well known on our coasts, and they reach a very large size, 
more than a foot across the disk, and several inches in 
thickness. 
when they are eaten, as the minute harpoons might cause 
an irritation of the stomach. 
The’ ocean 
These stinging quale are 
Of course these tentacles could’ be cut off 
Those who traverse the seas know that hardly a day 
passes without meeting a long streak of Jelly-fish, drifting 
with the winds or currents, and a castaway could dip out 
all that he wanted by the aid of an old shirt tied up at the 
arms and neck, and towed through such a floating mass of 
them. 
At times, millions of small Jelly-fish are cast upon the 
beach, and the bather, at such times, feels as if he were 
swimming in pea-soup. 
such times, to try them as food, for the late Commodore J. 
B, Nicholson assured us that he had done so, and that they 
were harmless, and nourishing, though tasteless. 
We have often been tempted, at 
We cannot enumerate the larger species of acalephw, nor 
dilate on their marvellous methods and powers of repro- 
duction. 
ject, and Professor Agassiz has done more than all others 
in clearing up their history. 
Many have devoted much attention to this sub- 
We claim no originality for the above proposed experi- 
ment, but we cannot find that the subject has ever been no- 
ticed before. 

—<4- 0 
FOL DE ROL 
HERE is an amusing article in a late number of an 
English magazine, in regard to the chorus of songs, 
with a ‘‘ down, derry down,” and a ‘‘fal, lal-la” and “a high 
nonnie, nonnie no,” anda ‘“‘hey cum trix,” and other re- 
frains of songs, where the erudite reviewer exercises, if not 
extreme philological lore, very certainly most ingenious 
processes of reasoning, worthy of a Max Muller. Cease 
then, ye roysterers, around the table, or ye night revellers, 
your profanation of “‘tooral looral;” give it rather an inton- 
ing deep and solemn, for you are (says the reviewer) almost 
on the verge of a sacrilege, for know then, ye boisterous 
gallants, that ‘‘tooral rooral” is Celtic or Geelic, that ‘“tooral” 
is the Geelic andante or slow movement and ‘rooral” the 
Celtic presto or quicker movement. Harp music probably 
in that early time had technical terms similar to those 
used to-day for the piano. All these refrains, so it seems, 
were used by the Druids to commemorate some portion of 
their worship. Let us take a rather ludicrous example of 
this. There is a song called the ‘‘Friar in the well,” with 
the chorus ‘‘fal-la lanky down dilly.” Now lanky and 
langtre are one and the same thing, the true reading should 
be ‘‘ fal la-lan-ri-dun-dill,” meaning ‘‘the circle of the day 
is full, let us go to the hill of rain.” Rain it seems must 
have been held in high estimation by the Druids. Possibly 
there were umbrella makers among them, because there is 
another burst of songs, ending witha ‘‘hie dildo-dil,” which 
is resolvable into, di, dill dum dile, or ‘welcome to the 
rain upon the hill,” which the chorus commentator says 
was a thanksgiving for rain after a draught. 
Now, no one doubts but that “‘ri-um, ti iddity tiddity,” 
must have had a forefather, but man’s ingenuity can take it 
so far beyond Druidical times, as to place it in the Sanscrit. 
The oldest chorus is the Greek one. *‘I-ho! I-ho!” which is 
distinctly traceable to the old parent races of the Hindoo. 
‘‘ Hey-lillie-ho-lallie” is almost as old, perhaps taken from 
the Saracen. A confused jumble of Il-allah, and “sing fol- 
de-rol-de dee” and ‘‘diddledum-di and diddle dum do,” may 
be for ought we know, derived from church canticles, when 
choristers sang their do-re-mi-fa, &c., Of course we do not 
mean to laugh at such erudition, nor bé classed with Syd- 
ney Smith’s friend, who despised the equator, and made a 
joke about the pole, but occasionally. the exact difference 
between what is far fetched and ingenious is somewhat 
difficult to determine. 
Take. one of our negro choruses, for instance, “I am 
going to leave you—good by, Eliza Jane.” This may be 
rendered—‘‘I’m gwine to leave yer—Lize Jane,” Apply 
Grimm’s rule to it, and you have the most curions and start- 
ling effects. An ingenious friend worked on it for a week, 
and at last having carried it through the most elaborate 
squeezing and twisting, got it to read from the Sanscrit. 
“The horse of the sea lapped the water,” which fact we trust 
will render Hooley classic for the future. Perhaps some 
of our readers yhilologically inclined, can give us some 
other choruses—native ones, elaborately worked up. 
There are word hoaxes at times, quite as plausible as the 
best practical jokes. But to treat such matters seriously, 

