Golden Age, August 12, 1925
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Contents of the Golden Age
.......... , .,:=........::: w
' Labob and Economics
Sundry News Items .......... ■
What Prison Labor Does .
.Wages of Soft-Coal Miners . .
■ Social and Educational
Why Suicide? Move to Chicago . ., , . . . . . . . . . . 716
Longevity in City of London .
Automobiles Pollute the Air .
Bitter Contrasts in Britain ..........
The Value of Listening at a Keyhole -. .
Radio Program . .
Finan ce—Ccmmeb of—Tra nsport a tton
Chinese Eggs Arrive Too Rife ........
Pike’s Peak Railroad Sold ............... 716
Woes of Third-Class Travel .........
Telegraphing of Checks Begun
Political—Domestic and Foreign
■Woman Advocates Abandoning of Home . . . .....
The Liberals Dying Off ........
Government Loses Teapot Dome Suit ......
Mexico Able to Peg Along .
Spain May End Bull Fighting .
Travel and Mis cell a nt
Our Feathered Friends
What We Can Do for Birds ........
Migration of Birds
Four Bird Stories
, Amundsen’s Remarkable Achievements . .
Opens Subterranean Rivers .....
Bible Students Abroad in 1925
Religion and Philosophy
What They Teach in Ireland ............ .
New .Heavens and New Earth—What are They ? ....... 729
Studies in “The Harf of God” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
Published every other Wednesday at IS Concord Street, Brooklyn, N. Y„ IL S. A., by WOODWORTH, ILUDG1NGS & MARTIN
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Entered as second-class matter at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879
oA Golden Age
Volume VI Brooklyn, N.Y,, Wednesday, August 12, 1925 Number 154
Our Feathered Friends
population. The eastern states are estimated to harbor over two billion native field birds.
The Bronx Zoo, in New York city, contains 800 varieties, ranging in size from the tiny humming bird, but little over an inch in length, to the ostrich, seven feet in height.
What They Do for Us
THE birds give us food to eat and clothes to wear. Without them successful agriculture would be an impossibility. They insure the growth of our shade trees, and dispose of the caterpillars which otherwise would drop down the backs of our necks when we walked beneath.
The Department of Agriculture estimates that the passage of the Migratory Bird Law, which forbids the shooting of game birds in the spring, has already gained in food to the nation not less than $2(^000,000. In some districts where the birds had become almost extinct the numbers are rapidly increasing.
From a purely economic standpoint it may be said that there are six classes of birds which are useful to mankind; those that destroy insects, those that destroy weed seed, those that destroy small rodents, those that serve as scavengers, those that serve as game, and those that supply eggs.
From the standpoint of the satisfaction of our senses of sight and sound there are few more pleasant things in nature than birds. They are graceful in repose and in flight, many of them beautifully colored and some of them with happy little songs that cheer the heart.
Knowledge of the value of birds has so progressed in the North that songbirds are regarded as an asset, and farmers do not permit the killing of them on their lands. In the South there is much killing of birds for food and for sport, and some regard this as one explanation for the spread of the boll weevil, which has donej so much to destroy the South’s best crop.
fOT .
THIS is not an article about angels. We make this explanation at the outset, because we just heard that a priest, returned from the holy show at Rome, expressed himself as greatly dissatisfied with some of the relics on exhibition there, particularly a feather from the wing of the Angel Gabriel. He seemed to think it a fake, and' that Gabriel was not moulting at the time of his last visit here, as alleged. This article is about birds.
Birds are queer. There is no getting away from it. The slang phrase that a certain man is “a queer bird” conveys the idea that it is hard to understand him. There are many things about birds that we cannot understand, and for that reason, and because they are so much like human beings, they interest us.
The higher types of birds are like the higher types of human beings. They select their mates and remain true to them throughout life. The qualities common among men are common among birds—love, jealousy, vanity, fear, courage, cowardice, sociability, playfulness, gluttony, and devotion to the home.
The study of bird life is as innocent a diversion and as fascinating as any in which humans engage; yet one who stands and watches the birds for a few minutes is often thought to be unbalanced. One gentleman in a town, suburban to New York, was questioned by a policeman concerning his peculiar conduct. The officer confided in him that the residents of the little town thought him so queer as to require watching. “Do they ?” exclaimed the amazed old gentleman, “How very extraordinary! Here is my card. It may explain matters.” The card read, “Professor Malcolm Ogilvie, New York Ornithological Society, 53 Jane Street, New York.”
Government experts estimate that Maryland has the most numerous bird life, with an average of seven pairs to the acre, while the arid lands of the Southwest have the smallest bird
. Realizing that eats are the natural enemies of birds and do more than any other creatures to decimate bird life, some bird lovers are carrying on a campaign for the extermination of all the cats in the world. Their claim is that eats never kill insects, and that but for the birds the insects would in a few years destroy all crops and all green things.
But there are other foes to birds. The Marquis of Ripon, reputed to be the best shot in the world, killed 88,355 birds in the years 1889-1894 and was stricken with death at the ■ end of a morning’s shooting in which he had bagged fifty-six brace of grouse. Perhaps Ue who marks the sparrow’s fall gave the marquis something of poetic justice. When he awakens in the resurrection he will be less eager to take what he cannot give.
What We Can Do for the Birds
HPHERE are several things which almost any person can do for the birds. Winter birds can be fed; fruit-bearing shrubs can be planted that will furnish food for the birds, as well as be attractive in themselves; pans of water can be put out for the birds in times of drought; cats and air guns can be reduced in number or controlled; and nesting boxes can be put up for bluebirds, wrens, martins, tree swallows and other hole-nesting birds.
The tendency to drain every marsh and clean up every bit of underbrush can be restrained somewhat. If overdone it would leave almost no place in which' the birds could find a natural home. It is getting harder and harder every year for the birds to find nesting places and feeding grounds.
The New York State College of Forestry recommends the native red cedar as not only an excellent tree for ornamental purposes, but as also providing an excellent shelter and nesting site for birds. They also find food in the berries and insects commonly found on the tree.
The native flowering dogwood and the Chinese flowering crab-apple are two particularly beautiful trees that are favorites with the birds. The grey-stemmed dogwood, honeysuckle, American elder and sheepberry are also serviceable to the birds and ornamefital. The Virginia creeper, one of the most popular vines, furnishes nesting sites for birds and draws the attention of the birds away fromgrapes, apples and peaches.
Teachers are doing something for the birds by teaching the young the value,- the preciousness of each little Individual life, how easy it is to take it and how impossible to give it back. Children can be taught that it is a crime to molest the homes and steal and destroy the young of defenceless fellow creatures.
Unnecessary Slaughter of Birds
OLDER persons can be taught by precept and example the unfairness and the unwisdom of slaying birds for food, or for sport so-called or for vanity. Millions of beautiful birds have died unnecessarily to supply feathers for women’s hats. It is not the uncivilized women that are responsible for these slaughters, but the supposedly civilized ones. ■
Legislatures can do something. President Roosevelt was a. great bird-lover and was responsible for several bird reservations, at the mouth of the Mississippi, in Florida, in Oregon, in the Aleutian'islands and elsewhere. Audubon societies for the preservation of bird's have been formed in forty states. London is the headquarters of an international committee for carrying on propaganda for the preservation o f birds. One of its proposals is governmental prohibition of the sale of feathers of rare birds.
The American Ornithologists! Union, with 1600 members, maintains a bird magazine, The Auk, which investigates the problems of migration and nesting of birds. It advises grown people and others to mix in the affairs of young birds as little as possible. Avoid frequent or close approach to the nest. Enemies of- various kinds often-follow the trail. Also, the young may leave the nest prematurely, with fatal results. ■
Ambassador and Mme. Jusserand became so attached to the birds of Piny Branch Valley, Washington, that on their return to France they sent to the valley, as a permanent expression of gratitude to the' songsters, a stone bird-bath, the work of French artists.
Many Bird Catastrophes
A BIRD lover says : “Many perils beset the bird—cats, wild beasts, snakes, boys, gunners, parasites, disease, famine, thirst, wind storms, hail, sleet and snow storms, forest fires, brush fires, and bandit birds, such as owls, hawks, crows, jays and other feathered pillagers that eat the eggs of other birds and kill fledglings and full grown birds. Millions of land birds—the sparrows, warblers, redstarts, indigo buntings and all the other migrants—lose their lives in storms at sea.”
In order to avoid the larger birds, most of the smaller ones make their migrations at night. In the darkness they have several foes. Winds blow them out of their course. Tall, dark objects across their paths are not seen. As many as 150 bird corpses have been found at the base of Washington monument in a single morning. Lighthouses with a steady white light bewilder them; they turn aside and weary themselves going around and around the light until they fall to the ground or into the sea. Bird deaths at the Statue of Liberty run to 700 per month. English lighthouses are equipped with perches for the convenience of bewildered birds attracted by the lights. Many lives are thus saved. A flashing light frightens the birds away; they will not come near a red one.
Bird catastrophes are sometimes witnessed. In September, 1879, a violent storm over Lake Michigan strewed the eastern shore of the lake with about a half million dead birds, as nearly as could be estimated. On one occasion passengers on a vessel thirty miles off the mouth of the Mississippi river witnessed the death of hundreds of birds. They had been flying north across the Gulf of Mexico, but encountered a t;norther” with which they were unable to contend, and were compelled to drop into the gulf and drown.
In November, 1923, thousands of birds, blown out to sea by unfavorable winds, landed on the Cunard liner Scythia and stayed on board until she docked in Liverpool. These birds were probably migrating from the North Atlantic states to the northern shores of South America.
Birds have some means of notifying each other of districts to be avoided. In the Sandwich Islands are certain caves filled with volcanic gases. These caves are deadly to all life; but it is a noteworthy fact that no birds are ever seen in that vicinity, though everywhere else in the islands they are extremely plentiful.
Migrations of Birds
NLIKE man, who seems more ready to shift his home to where he is afforded the most favorable conditions for existence, most birds cling tenaciously to the. immediate surroundings in which they were cradled, when it comes to a selection of a nesting site. This fact was first demonstrated by sea birds known to breed on certain islands, and on these only. More recently it has been shown that many of the lesser birds cling persistently to their nesting site; and it has even been found that some not only seek the same general region, but the same shelf of rocks and even the same nest year after year.
It is only a few hundred years since people believed that the birds which disappeared on the edge of winter flew to some undiscovered satellite near the earth. Now the summer and winter habitats of many birds are known. Certain birds travel unerringly between certain portions of Chile and places in the United States. The winter resorts of Europe’s birds are the valleys of the Nile and Congo. Canadian birds are found in Brazil.
In Europe there are now some twenty organizations interested in bird banding. The device finally settled upon as most satisfactory is a numbered aluminum band or ring, attached to the tarsus, or bare portion of the leg. By this means much valuable information has been collected.
The greater number of birds migrate at distances about 3,000 feet above the earth, although by means of instruments so fixed as to scan the surface of the moon some have been discerned at 15,100 feet. The density of the air at such a height is only half what it is at sea level. In the South it is observed that birds which go north latest in the spring return earliest in the fall.
Migration is for food. Robins and certain other birds will not migrate from Connecticut to the South if fed regularly all winter. Birds are great eaters, many breeds eating several times the weight of their bodies in the course of a day. They can do this because much of their food consists of insects and worms, composed largely of water, wdiich imposes very little tax on the digestive organs. Some birds in the Lincoln Park Zoo, Cliicago, will eat nothing but snakes.
From A to Z Among Birds
THE albatross, with a wing expanse of twelve feet, is the largest of the web-footed birds.
Sometimes flocks of fifteen or twenty of these follow ships from San Francisco for thousands of miles.
Blackbirds to the number of hundreds fell suddenly to earth lifeless in March, 1924, on the farm of J. R. Lippincott, Burlington, X. J. The bodies showed no signs of poison, and it is conjectured that in some manner they were slain by conflicting radio currents.
The-bobolink, a bird common everywhere in the eastern part of the United States, starts south in August, at which time he changes his feathers, his character and even his name, and becomes the low-voiced, dull-colored reed-bird of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay region.
The bluebird is a bird to make you glad you are. alive to see it and to hear its melodious song. Some one has said: “To associate with him and to gaze on his tender little ones is to give your broken spirit such a bath of beauty and wholesomeness, and to create such a consuming interest in the general plan of things in the world, that you are completely overwhelmed by everything as the Creator has made it.”
The bower bird of Australia and neighboring islands is so called because the males build -bowers or play houses, dome-shaped, a few inches long, floored with twigs. The ornaments are bright feathers, bits of glass or anything bright. One variety builds a run three feet long, a platform of twigs with a hedge of upright twigs at either side. ■
Canary, Condor, Cormorant-
THE canary is the prize of songbirds, but has to be trained. There are several schools in Yorkshire and Lancashire, England, where by means of a bird organ the canary is taught first one note and then another. The ideal training gives the bird four distinct notes: the water note, which, as its name implies, is a rippling gurgle like the murmur of a rill; the whistling note; the flute note; and the rolling note, which is a continuous melody, splendidly rising and falling. The canary is a wonderful imitator and therefore an excellent student.
Henschel, the ornithologist, tells of a bullfinch which had been taught to pipe the tune “God Save the King”, and of a young canary which learned it from him. At length the canary became so proficient that when the bullfinch, whose-cage was an an adjoining room, stopped after the first half a little longer than the proper rhythm warranted, the canary took up the tune where the bullfinch had stopped and finished it. This happened several times. . .
There is a bird tavern in Hew York, where choice birds are provided with fresh fruit, vege-
E1K.KI.IS,. W, ,T.
tables and salads, and entertained with dolls, bells and balls. Ono of the guests is a cockatoo, with a white coat, a beautiful crest and a salmon chest. This bird, Coca, laughs at a funny story, drinks from a glass, swears, washes and feeds a china doll, and wraps himself in a newspaper when he sleeps.
The condor is the largest bird that flies. The true condor is a native of the South American Andes, but specimens have been known to visit California and Europe. In 1922, high in the Alps mountains a mother engaged in weeding the garden left her baby sitting on a blanket on the grass. A condor swooped down and seized the child. Its father saw the act, ran for his gun and, being an expert shot, brought the bird to the ground. It fell so slowly that the child was only slightly injured. The wing spread of this bird was found to be seventeen feet and five inches. Condors fly at enormous altitudes, and have wonderful eyes and keen sense of smell. The name is derived from an old Indian word meaning a good smeller.
The cormorant is the prize fish catcher, and pursues fish under water with inconceivable rapidity. Chinese fishermen train cormorants to catch fish. A ring on the neck prevents the bird from swallowing the fish until the owner is satisfied. Cormorants find pleasure in playing with live fish in the same way that a cat plays with a mouse. The fish is tossed into the air and caught again and again in the spacious bill.
Cowbird, Cuckoo, Crow, Dove
HE corvbird and the cuckoo are spongers.
They build no nests of their own, but deposit their eggs among those of other birds, which do their work for them and furnish the home free of charge.
The crow is the acme of craft, cunning and cruelty. He can count to three. If three persons enter a cornfield to lie in Ava.it with guns, the crows will remain in distant tree tops until three persons have gone out before they will enter the field; but if four persons enter and three go out, the crows miss their count and return to the field.
In the crow language there is one cry for “danger ahead”, another for “let’s go”, while a still different cry declares that “all’s well”. The average crow takes delight in perching on the tattered hat or shoulders of a scarecrow. He is
The Golden Age
a great weather prophet. If rain is imminent lie will rise from his nest, wheel about overhead and return. If his stay in the air is short the storm is nigh; if he remains some time in the air the storm will be slow in coming; if he remains long in the air and at the same time is -very noisy, the disturbance will be severe.
The erow’s appetite for the eyes of animals is particularly atrocious. He will eat the eyes of live kids, lambs and fawns, and has even been known to pick out the eyes of small children. Instances are on record where crows have been seen to alight on the ears of a deer and peck at its eyes. While a hawk or an owl will endeavor to kill its prey as quickly as possible, the crow will leisurely eat its victims alive.
Crows are sometimes kept for pets and become quiet and peaceful. They have even been known to talk. Jaco, a crow that has been exhibited at the New York Hippodrome, is so valuable that an insurance of $50,000 is carried upon his life.
The dove is the opposite of the crow, so much so that the Lord made choice of this beautiful, innocent, gentle creature to represent the holy spirit. It was the dove that was sent forth from the ark, the dove that was acceptable as a burnt offering, the dove that was honored in the writings of David and Solomon, and the dove that rested upon the Lord at the time of his baptism. The dove is so affectionate that if placed in a sick room it will manifest such sympathy for the ailing person as to cause its own death.
The American Eagle
TIME was when the American eagle was to be found almost everywhere on this continent ; audit is still plentiful in Alaska, where approximately 25,000 were killed during the years 1917 to 1923, on the ground that eagles were seriously affecting the salmon supply by destroying the fish while spawning in the small streams, also that they' kill a great many fawns of deer, and young forest and shore birds, as well as ducks and geese.
The eagle is a bird that is naturally shy and wary, clean and handsome, swift in flight and strong in body. He is as formidable as any creature of the wild, being more than a match for any animal of his size. He stands firm before every bird or animal that can come against him excepting only man. Eagles mate for life and remain together year after year. The* same is true of swans and geese.
On the same day, in January, 1921, two boys in Depere, Wis., had a thrilling battle with an eagle that attempted to carry one of them away, while in Tampa, Florida, two other children were attacked. In the latter instance the bird was shot and killed, measuring six feet from tip to tip. In July of the same year two women of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, succeeded, after a desperate battle, in recovering from an eagle’s talons a three-year-old child just as the eagle was about to fly away with the little one. In November of the following year New York crowds along Riverside Drive were thrilled by the sight of an eagle 1,500 feet in the air, flying along with a dog in its talons. Pedestrians at first supposed it to be an airplane.
Near Santiago, Chile, in February, 1922, a soldier shot an eagle and supposed that he had killed it. When he approached, the bird attacked him furiously. In the struggle which followed, one of the eagle’s claws clutched the trigger of the gun, which was discharged, the bullet entering the man’s body. He died in the anus of his companions.
Eagles, buzzards and cranes fly through the air for minutes and even for hours without moving their wings. Their broad, light wings are spread to catch the upward moving currents of air; and with their wonderful wings, steering tail-feathers and marvelous muscular and nervous systems they are able to sail forward in any direction, propelled by the powers of nature.
From a thousand feet in the air the eagle sees the hare, a mere specie, and falls upon him like a thunderbolt.
An eagle recently tied up communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts for a short time. She built her nest on the transcontinental telephone line. Not content with sagebrush and survey stakes she put in some pieces of wire and spare automobile parts and caused a short circuit.
Flamingo, Gardiner, Gull
T HE flamingo is a splendid flame-colored bird that is now extinct except in the Bahamas.
The flamingo is easy to see, easy to kill and easy to eat; and nothing but careful protection on a bird reservation can save it. When an intruder approaches the nests of the flamingoes they utter a deep, trumpet-like call, and at a signal from the leader spring into the air, a flaming mass, soaring away until they become a mere rosy cloud on the horizon.
-The gardiner bird of New Guinea clears a space about a small tree and erects a circular wigwam of twigs -with a cone of moss inside it. There are two doors to this little house; and in . front of one of them a carpet of moss is laid, which is kept very clean and made attractive with bright-colored insects, fruits and flowers. When the flowers become withered, the bird exchanges them for fresh ones.
The gull has the distinction of being able to fly over great spaces of rvater, and to keep going longer without stop or rest than any other-known creature. On a trip across the Atlantic Ocean there is only one day when gulls are not seen. When weary the grill tucks its head under its wing and sleeps, riding the waves like a ship. The gull is a simple-minded bird; hence.the term '“gullible” as applied to men.
Now that oil-burning vessels are becoming common, many gulls, auks, puffins, loons and other sea birds, pounce down upon oil patches on the waters, only to find themselves coated with a substance which they cannot remove. The oil bunches the feathers together, allowing the cold water to penetrate to their skins. They catch cold and die. The gulls are learning to avoid the oil patches, but the slower-witted auks and loons are fast disappearing.
Hawk, Hoactzin, Loen, Macaw '
rpHE hawk is the natural foe of the poultry yard, but eats other birds too. Wild birds pursued by hawks always fly upwards. As long as they fly upward the hawk cannot catch them; but if they make a mistake and try to escape by flying downward, the haw’k soon overtakes them. Hawks are valuable in keeping fields free from destructive animals.
The hoactzin of Brazil is a bird about the size of a chicken, able to fly short distances, to swim short distances, and to climb trees. It thrives only on the leaf of the aninga tree. None have ever been transported any great distance successfully, because of the futility of trying to keep on hand a supply of fresh aninga leaves.
The loon, or great northern diver, is a mag-, nificent bird some thirty inches in length. It has a wTing stretch of four feet, and lives on fish, wfliich it pursues by diving. The weird
Brooklyn, '.N. V.
laughter of the loon is akin to the cry of- a maniac and has given rise to the expression “crazy as a loon”.
The macaw is sometimes trained as a pet. A lady in New York had one of these birds, known to his friends as Major Teuber. The Major got into his mistress’ dressing room, and ' ate a quarter-pound box of lip salve. They saved his life by rushing him to New York’s bird hospital, more generally known as. the Virginia Pope hotel.
Nightingale, Ostrich, Owl
HE nightingale is considered the most beautiful of all the singers. As its name implies, its song comes in the night. It is not the song of a lady bird, as most of the poets have it, but is the song of joy of the. male at having finished his migratory flight from far-off southern climes.
The ostrich is the largest, strongest and fleetest of the flightless birds. The males reach a height of eight feet, weigh 300 pounds, and can run up to twenty-seven miles per hour. Contrary to general belief, the ostrich never buries its head in the sand. It has an exceptionally keen eye; and when it discerns a foe at a distance it lies down, in which position at a distance it may be easily mistaken for an ant hill. Its object in lying down is to get measurably out of sight.
When an ostrich settles itself to run, it holds its head lower than usual and a little forward, with a deep loop in the neck. The neck vibrates sinuously; but the head remains steady, thus enabling the bird, even at top speed, to look around with unshaken glance in any direction. The wings are held loosely just free of the plunging thigh. There is no. attempt to hold them extended or to derive any assistance from them as organs of flight.
There are ostrich farms in South Africa,, at Pasadena and Los Angeles, California, Jacksonville, Fla., Hot Springs, Ark., and in Oregon. Near Phoenix, Arizona, there is an ostrich farm, with 3,000 birds. Each bird yields about one and one-half pounds of feathers, worth about $20.00. The New Zealand ostrich, now extinct, had a height of twelve feet.
The owl is a bird of prey, and quite a savage one at that. A pair of bam owls is considered, better than a cat to rid the premises of rats and mice. They also eat rabbits, woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, and gophers. Not long ago the city of Conneaut, Ohio, had a, plague of owls. They were not content merely to roost in the trees and salute pedestrians with. their ""whoo, whoo”, but in several instances flew from their perches and attacked persons passing below, probably mistaking them for other animals. They have been known to attack hunters. At Turner, Maine, a horned owl more than three feet in length picked up a 50-pound calf and flew over a stone wall with it.
Paradise, Parrot, Pelican -
HE bird of paradise is the most beautiful and perhaps the vainest of all the birds.
He comes from New Guinea and neighboring islands. The beautiful plumage is confined to the adult males, nature’s method of preserving the species. The males have a peculiar way of causing waves to go over their bodies, thus showing off their plumage. One of these males, at the height of his beauty display, was observed in the New York Zoo to hang head downward and go through various contortions, all to attract the admiration of the crowds. ‘
The parrot is considered the most intelligent among the birds. Of the 500 odd species the best talker is the red-tailed gray parrot of Africa; next is the yellow-headed one of Mexico. Either of these can be taught fifty or more words. They are quite affectionate, but changeable and quick tempered. In Paris a parrot is alleged to have given the police the name of his master, causing the latter’s arrest and conviction as a thief.
The Pittsburgh Press tells the shameful tale that at Nice, where in winter the idle from all over the world walk on the Promenade des Anglais, men sell tiny birds like parrots, beautifully colored, wonderfully tame. These birds sit on a little stick held in your fingers, and never fly away. A woman discovered that the entire taming process consists in putting out the poor creatures’ eyes. Seeing nothing, they fear everything, and especially to lose their hold on. that little stick. Would you think that any man could be so mean?
Study of the pelican has disclosed that it is a friend of man. It eats no fish that are useful for . human food, but it does eat fish that frequently go in great schools into the nets and sometimes tangle the nets up so that they have to be cut to get the fish out. . • A writer in the New York American calls attention to the interesting fact that the phoebe perches familiarly on the clothesline and makes its nest anywhere about the premises of human beings, while other birds that look so much, like it that only an expert can tell the difference, avoid human beings as they would the plague. The question naturally arises as to why this should be so, and it still, awaits an answer.
Pigeon, Plover, Sparrow
THE pigeon family numbers several hundred species. One of these, the passenger pigeon, which within a few years existed in the United' States by the million, is now supposed to be nearly or quite extinct. Only a generation ago a flock of these birds would fall upon a wheat field and devastate it in a few minutes. The front birds dropped at the first sight of food, the others settling beyond them, in regular order, the last birds settling farthest at the front. In a few minutes the first birds would be again at the front and thus the entire flock, revolving like a cylinder, cleaned the field of all it possessed.
Another well-known member of the pigeon family is the homing pigeon. In Europe, and to some extent in America, the releasing of homing pigeons at a distance is a popular sport. Of five thousand pigeons released at Washington in September, 1921, the first to arrive home at a distance of 204 miles consumed six hours on the trip, or about thirty-four miles per hour. In a short flight a homing pigeon will sometimes fly at a speed of eighty miles an hour.
The golden plover is the prince of travelers among birds. In the spring he comes overland from South America by way of the Mississippi valley and lands at length in Nova Scotia; but when fall comes he disdains to return by the way he came and sets sail direct from Nova Scotia to the coasts of South America, a distance of 2,400 miles. How he can do this year after year without losing his way is stated by Sir Alfred Newton to be the greatest mystery which the whole animal kingdom presents. The suggestion has been made that the golden plover is sensibly affected by the lines of magnetic force and” is thus a living compass.
Of the plover family is the crocodile’s dentist, the Egyptian plover. When the crocodile leaves the water he holds his mouth, open, facing the< breeze. At such times the plover goes into his mouth, picking the leeches and other parasites i from his teeth, lips and gums. This dental operation occurs once a year.
The most abundant birds in the United States are the robin and the English sparrow. The latter was brought into the United States in 1851 and liberated in the parks of Boston and ‘ New York. Being a stranger, and therefore without any natural enemies, he throve so remarkably as to threaten America's own song birds with destruction. Today there are millions • of these little fellows in all parts of the United States; but the crows and blackbirds have discovered that the sparrows make good eating, and are now giving them their undivided attention with the result that it looks bad for the English sparrow. This little bird averages to eat about a hundred insects a day. There are about 500 varieties, of sparrows.
Four Bird Stories
HE London Daily Herald contains the following story about a sparrow:
“Whilst at my work in a railway signal box at Burnley, Lancs., I happened to have, occasion to go out of the box, and I saw a hedge-sparrow apparently feeding another one. 1 paused for a few moments, and the sparrow flew away, and then I saw that the remaining one had been injured, presumably by a goods train which had recently passed. You can imagine ray amazement, when, after a minute or so, the sparrow which had previous!}' flown away returned, bringing more food to the injured one. After a few minutes the injured bird tried to hop away, and eventually managed, after much resting—and with the other, which I took to be its mate, constantly hopping attendance upon it—to got to the hedge side. I came to the conclusion, that it was in much more capable, if not more sympathetic, hands than mine, and proceeded towards the water well, marveling at the lesson which these little sparrows 'could teach to mankind.”
One of our contributors, Susan E. Clark, gives us a somewhat similar story:
“One day the family noticed a young chipping sparrow following a female English sparrow about; and fearing that the older bird might turn and fight the little one, they watched them. To their surprise they saw the young bird hop on the back of the other, which made no objection; and soon the English sparrow began picking up the crumbs about the door and feeding the little chippie. This was amazing enough, but later it was observed that the whole brood of chippies was about, which the parents were feeding, while the English sparrow was helping them. One was found to be a cripple, and was watched over by the house people, for several days to save it from prowling cats. 'The English sparrow gave special attention to the little invalid; and finally the parents left him entirely to the care of the nurse-maid, and devoted themselves to feeding their healthy offspring. The faithful nurse watched and fed her charge for several days, until one night a drenching rain proved too much for the frail birdling on the ground., and in the morning it was found dead. The family buried it, and soon the English sparrow came to the spot with food in her mouth for her charge. Not. finding him, she continued to come at intervals for several days, and waited around mournfully with food in her bill. But. the parents of the little one never appeared to look for him.”
While we are aboixt it we give a third bird story, this one from the New York Times-.
“Baris.—Long voyages of migrating birds are well known, yet it is not always easy to obtain tangible evidence of their journeys, and bird lovers will be interested in the story from Alsace about a. swallow’s water travels and sojourn. Last fall a resident of Ostheim captured a swallow nesting in a gable and released it, with the following message on parchment attached : 'During the summer of 1921 I lived with----,
at Ostheim. He would be glad to learn where I passed the winter when I return.’ The bird now returns to its Alsatian home, bearing the following inscription: ‘Have been staying with, a shoemaker, Joseph Bady, on the Island of Martinique, who salutes my present host.’ ”
And our last bird story is from the New York World. It is so remarkable that if it were not a bird story we would almost be inclined to think it a fish story:
“An army of invading chimney swallows ranging from 7.000 to 10,000 in number will follow their leader down or up a chimney.” Dr. F. M. Chatman said yesterday, “This proves that the bird story from'Kingston, N. Y., was not a ‘fish story’. . . . Frank V. Rice, a shipbuilder, and his wife were the victims of the surprise party. . . . ‘When we returned home Tuesday evening the room was filled with birds. The walls were black with the soot from their wings. Some were perched, asleep on the mantel; others had crawled into cream pitchers; still others were flying around and around the room. We opened the windows and the doors; we tried to chase them back up the chimney and down the cellar; but all in vain, 'they believed that they had found a nesting place for the summer, I guess; for several already had found some thread and string and were weaving these into nests in corners of the ceilings. Finding we could not chase them out, we started action. Chairs, brooms, sticks and anything else we could get were used in sav-? ing v:hat- v/as left of the inside of our home.’ Last night Mr. Rice was still counting the dead, which filled two cider barrels and two coal shovels. He estimates that there are 5,000 dead and that 5,000 escaped.”
Swan, Tern, Whidah, Woodpecker
THE Dearborn Independent tells us that in . a lake in one of the western provinces of Canada there are still preserved a few specimens of the trumpeter swan, a beautiful white bird with a wing spread of ten feet, which once ranged from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Coast and south to the Gulf of Mexico and southern California. Until recently this beautiful bird was supposed to be extinct. The Canadian government has appointed a caretaker of the last remaining representatives.
Among the curious acts performed by birds are those of the tailor bird, which forms a nest by sewing together with grass the edges of growing leaves; the weaver birds, which form an association and collect a rainproof roof of leaves, under which they all build; and the brush turkey of Australia, which amasses a heap of several tons of leaves, apparently for the warmth produced, for leaves heat like a hotbed.
The most famous globe trotter is the Arctic tern, which makes its summer home within a short distance from the North Pole and its winter home at the opposite end of the earth. Every six months it takes this journey of something like 10,000 miles, so as to be in the climate which it prefers. It breeds as far north as it can find land for nesting and winters as far south as there is open water for feeding. The scarlet tanager summers in Canada and winters in Peru. A common tern banded in Maine was found four years later in Africa. A wild, duck banded in Maine was found two months later in Trinidad.
Polygamy is customary with some birds. One of these natural polygamists is the beautiful long-tailed whidah of Africa. He gathers to himself about six females, which he watches over with as much care as does any sultan over his harem. The grackle is also a polygamist.
■ Every waterfowl, such as the duck, dresses its feathers with oil which it presses from a gland above the tail. There are two weeks in August in which wild ducks cannot fly. All members of the family lose all their large wing feathers at the same time. Geese also moult in the same way, losing all their large wing feathers at once.
Woodpeckers, of which there are 300 species, are found everywhere except in Australia and Madagascar. A grub is located in a dry tree, either by listening or- by inspecting. Straightway the woodpecker drills a hole until the grub is uncovered. A long sticky tongue finishes the job. The woodpecker is considered so valuable as a timber preserver that stringent laws for its protection are common in the West. Woodpeckers have been known to tackle a tin roof or a slate roof in order to try to reach the grubs which they hear in the timbers underneath.
An interesting and curious service which certain birds render in the Thana district of India is to plant the seeds of the tall Palmyra palms in the tops of Bengal fig trees, making it seem as if one variety of tree is growing out of another; and such, in fact, is actually the ease. At all times these parasite palms look singular, but especially when young, the foliage being so different from that of the fig. -
Chinese Eggs Arrive Too Ripe
MUCH of the cake macle by bakers in the
United States contains eggs that were laid in China. Millions of such eggs arrive yearly, and in fairly good condition ; but a lot valued at $25,000 recently came into San Francisco which, it seems, were stored too close to the boilers. As a result, when the ship arrived at San Francisco the eggs that were not chirping were in a condition -where their chirping days were forever past. At least that was what the odor indicated, and Uncle Sam’s doughty custom inspectors pitched the whole batch into the Bay. Now there is great excitement in the effort to determine who is to stand the loss; for the shippers claim that they did not understand the steamship company would put the eggs into incubators, and both the shippers and the steamship company think that Uncle Sam could have saved an egg or two if he had tried. But Uncle Sam’s defense is that his nostrils were sorely offended as it was, and that he is not in the business of running a chicken farm.
Sundry News Items
[Radiocast, with other items, from Watchtower WBBR on a wave length of 272.6 meters, by the Editor]
T)RISON labor closes shoe, shirt and overall TXTHY put yourself to all the trouble and infactories. It puts on the market annually VV convenience of committing suicide when
What Prison Labor Does six million pairs of shoes, twelve million shirts and three and one-half million pairs of workingmen’s trousers, at prices with which manufacturers who have to pay wages to their help cannot compete. Secretary of Labor Davis has begun a campaign against the entire system.
Wages of Soft Coal Miners
THE average soft coal miner has work only half the time. When he does work,' if he is a union miner his wages average about $1,671/2 Per t°n; if he is not a union miner his wages average about $1 per ton. The soft coal business is in a bad way. For one thing there seems to be too much coal on hand. The market is easily glutted. It seems like a bad time for the anthracite miners to go on strike; for the use of coke is making inroads into the hard coal market, and once a furnace is fitted to the burning of coke it is not likely to be turned back to the use of anthracite.
Woman Advocates Abandoning the Home
THERE have been men theorists who have preached free love and the abandonment of the home as an institution, but we hardly expected to see the day when such disastrous doctrines would be openly advocated by the women. A woman addressing the National Woman’s Party at Detroit recently, actually advocated the utter banishment of the home, the doing away with legal marriage, and the care of mothers and children by the state. This is the limit. The seeds of insanity are flourishing.
The Liberals Dying Off
TWO pronounced liberals, friends of the people and defenders of their rights and liberties, passed away within a few days of each other. Senator LaFollette, described by both President Roosevelt and President Wilson as one of the truest Americans and one of the greatest statesmen this country ever produced, was followed in death a few days later by his friend and comrade, Senator Ladd of North Dakota. The passing of these two progressive statesmen is regarded as a death blow to liberalism in this country at this time.
Why Suicide? Move to Chicago there is another way out ? That way is simple. Just move to Chicago. Everybody thought that Chicago was “going some” last year when it averaged a murder a day; but 1925 starts off with an even worse showing, namely 170 murders in the first 151 days. Natives of Chicago who wish to live long should move to the headwaters of the Congo or the Amazon,
Automobiles Pollute the Air
Db. Boxnebmitz of the New York Police De
partment, Aeronautical Division, declares that the congestion of automobile traffic has so poisoned the air of the large cities that correct thinking has become difficult. He recommends the tired business man to take to the airplane. The rarified air will accelerate his pulse, improve his circulation, eliminate his fatigue and rest his nerves and eyes. The aviator has no signboards or other roadside objects upon which to strain his optics.
Pike’s Peak Railroad Sold
THE Pike’s Peak railroad, completed in 1897 at a cost of one million dollars, has just changed owners. The road is eleven miles long, rising one foot in four throughout its length. The boiler of the locomotive is set level and requires refilling twice on the ascent. The locomotive pushes one observation car up and precedes it down. Not a passenger has ever been hurt.
Woes of Third-Class Travel
THE combined practice of the steamship companies and the government puts a premium ■ on money. The first-class or second-class pas-• senger comes into port with little interference. l There is a brief examination on shipboard; that . is all. But if a luckless individual wishes to save i money and makes the mistake of coming third: class, it is Ellis Island for him, with all its de, lays and inconveniences, even if he wishes to > stay here but a few days. Commissioner Curran . of Ellis Island is endeavoring to have Washing-। ton change this arrangement. There is no rea-■ son why unfair discrimination should be shown against a person who has a slim purse.
Hs
Government Loses Teapot Dome Suit
THE Government has lost every point in its
Teapot Dome suit., as everybody expected it would. All that the public get out of it is the cost of the suit. That is to say, the Government may pay the costs; but President Harding, Secretary of the Navy Denby, Rear Admiral Robison, Secretary of the Interior Fall, and Mr. Sinclair were all given a clean bill of health. The Government will appeal the ca.se, but it might as well save its money. No chance. The New York World has a cartoon, showing Denby, Fall and Sinclair as angels, each with a halo over his head and in a prayerful attitude. Fall is smoking a cigar.
Telegraphing of Checks Begun
IT SEEMS probable that one of the principal t uses of the newly invented telephotograph will be the immediate cashing of checks between cities that are now as much as five days apart by mail. Several such checks have been transmitted between New York and Chicago successfully, and the practice bids fair to increase into a great volume of business.
Mexico Able to Peg Along
Ex-President Obregon, of Mexico, eomment-ing on Secretary Kellogg’s statement that the Mexican government is now on trial before the world, alleged that Mr. Kellogg appears to ignore what past experiences have shown to the world, that in. Mexico a government can function and exist normally with a popular vote and without the official support of the White blouse. The Argentinans also have been offended at the manner of Secretary Kellogg’s warning to Mexico. In our opinion nothing is to be gained by causing our neighbors to feel unfriendly to America.
Amundsen’s Remarkable Achievements
R oald Amundsen, now safely returned with his party after flying to within 100 miles of the North Pole, has many other illustrious adventures to his credit. He was the first to reach the South Pole, was the discoverer of the magnetic pole, and was the first to traverse the northwest passage from Greenland to the Bering Sea. The latter trip, made nearly twenty years ago, occupied three years of hardship. 'Amundsen is now fifty-three years of age.
Longevity in City of.London -
Sir Ronald Ross, famous London scientist, from an examination of London vital statistics learned that eighty years ago the average London man lived 34 years, 7 months, and the average London woman 38 years, 4 months.. Today the average London man lives 53 years, 9' months, and the average London woman 59 years. Twenty years have been added to the span.
Bitter Contrasts in Britain
HD HE British newspapers are featuring the J- races at Ascot, where the titled and monied aristocracy are showing off their best feathers. But at the same time they are also featuring, and sometimes on the same page, the increase in unemployment which, during first week in June added 43,000 to the official total of 1,291,000.
More Sights of the Holy Show '
PILGRIMS returning from Rome report having been shown a nail from the cross, the finger of the Apostle Thomas, thorns from Jesus” crown of thorns, a beam from the cross of the repentant thief, part of a chain used to bind both Peter and Paul, marks made in granite by Peter’s knees while in prayer, and the marble stairway of twenty-eight steps ascended and descended by Christ in Pilate’s palace. Those who go expecting to see hunks of green cheese mined in the moon by some of the new saints will have to look sharply. They may be disappointed.
Spain May End Bull Fighting
THE Iberian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has opened offices in seven of the principal cities of Spain and Portugal and has begun an active campaign to put an end to bull fighting. One of the backers of the movement is the Prince of Asturias, who is reputed to never miss a bull fight when there is an opportunity to see one. .
Decorates Herself with Hubby’s Skull
WHEN a ’woman in the Adulman Islands, Bay of Bengal, becomes a widow’ she carefully cleans the meat off from her husband’s skull, paints it with red ochre and white clay, and wears it about her neck as her chief ornar ment. If she has been married several times she must have a rather awkward necklace. .
Quake Opens Subterranean Rivers
WHEN peaceful Santa Barbara was rocked by a terrific earthquake last month, devastating* the city, few realized that out of this disaster would come immediate benefits to the California desert regions which would far exceed the property loss in the quake’s path. Last week’s Associated Press dispatches carried the report of western geologists who declare that the quake has actually opened up unsuspected underground rivers, causing water to spring-up all over the surrounding arid belt, and that as a consequence a real estate boom has been started. It is said that the increased water flow in the immediate county alone will cover Santa Barbara’s quake loss many times over.
Berthelot Creates Food from Air
FRENCH scientist, Daniel Berthelot, gives in a recent book, “The Science of Modern
Life,” the details of a method by which he has created sugar, starch, cellulose and vegetable tissues out of the natural air ingredients of carbonic gas and vapor. This result was achieved by means of an ultra solar ray developed from the ultra violet ray. The commercial exploitation of such a discovery would solve the food question for all time.
What They Teach in Ireland
IT IS astounding what the Roman Catholic Church has the nerve to try to shove over ’ on the people in this year of our Lord 1925. We present herewith some extracts from “A Short History of Ireland” by the Rev. Dennis Murphy, L. L. D., M. R. I. A., which is now being taught in Ireland. It is compulsory instruction in both Catholic and Protestant schools under the new Irish Free State government curriculum. The work is supposed to be a bona fide history of Ireland from the year B. C. 1300 to A. D. 1922. The first extract is from Chap. V:
“St. Patrick goes to Connaught: Passing through Longford he founded a church at Ardagh. Ite next went to Magh-Slecht in Cavan where Crom Cruach, the chief idol of Ireland, was worshiped. The idol fell to the ground at his approach. From this he went to the royal palace of the King of Connaught at Kathcrogan. Here he met the two daughters of King Zalghaire, Eithne and Fridelm; they had heard the chant of the priests as they were journeying along, and inquired who and what they were. Patrick told them he had come to preach the one true God and His Son who had died to save them. Their hearts were deeply touched and they asked how they could, show their gratitude to that great King. He baptized them and they consecrated themselves to God. They told him they desired to see Christ face to face and he said they should first taste death. Soon after they fell asleep in death and were laid together in the same grave. Tradition says that Patrick passed the forty days of Lent on the hill now known as Creaghpatrick: pilgrims still resort there to do him honor.
“Passing through Ossory, he went to Cashel of the Kings, the capital of Munster. Here too at his approach the idols fell to the ground. The king bade him welcome and led him into his dwelling. He and his whole, family believed. When the saint was baptizing him the spike of the crozier passed through the king’s foot. Patrick asked him why he did not tell him this. ‘I thought/ replied the king. That it was a rite of the faith.’ 'Thou shall have its reward/ said Patrick, ‘thy successors shall not die of a wound from today for ever/ Twenty-seven kings df his race ruled in Cashal.
“He next visited the Deisi in Waterford and Ormand ; and having founded churches and cloisters in Munster, and ordained folk of every grade, and healed all manner of sick folk, and raised the dead to life, he bade the Munstermen farewell and left a blessing on them.
“He was at Saul, his favorite retreat, when he felt that his end was approaching. He set out for Armagh, wishing to end his days there, but an angel told him this should not be the place of his resurrection. Trosach, the bishop of liaholp. gave him the Body of Christ on his deathbed. He died on March 17th. This is kept as his feast day.”
All Bible students will at once identify the above clumsy plag'iarizations of the narrative recorded in 1 Samuel, chapters 5 and 6, and will be aghast at the presumption which does not hesitate to ascribe to a Papal saint incidents connected with the Ark of God. The plagiarism and the fraud are continued in the following, which appears in this modern school-history under date 493 A. D.:
“The burial place of St. Patrick: A contention arose between the men of Uladh and the Hy Neill, each wishing to have the saint’s remains laid in their midst, the former because he had died in -their territory, the Hy tfeill because he had desired to be buried in the church which was the chief of all the churches of Ireland. An angel bade them yoke two untrained oxen to a cart, on which the body was laid., and where they would stop there the body should be buried. They halted at Dun-leithglasse, afterwards called Downpatrick, and there the saint was buried.”
The ghastly joke of it all is that there was no Roman Catholic church in existence at the time Patrick did this preaching in Ireland. The Bishop of Rome was gradually. intruding his preposterous claims from 325 A. I), onward; but he had no power in Ireland, and was not recognized in Ireland at the time of Patrick’s death in 463 A. D. Patrick was a. Protestant.
We select one more gem from the Rev. Dennis Murphy’s scholarly (?) textbook. This time he is discussing events which are supposed to have happened in A. D. 759. How it is that people who are usually so bright and quick to see advantages or disadvantages in'business or politics can stand for such ecclesiastical tommyrot is one of the greatest of enigmas:
“In the beginning of the reign of Niall Frossach there was great famine throughout the land. The king asked God to send relief to his people; and in answer to his prayers great showers of silver, honey and wheat fell, so that there was abundance of every kind of food. After a reign of seven years he resigned his .sovereignty and became a monk of Iona.”
The Value of Listening at a Keyhole Willard Price {in "The Miniature”)
A PUBLIC man of America went to call upon
Ian MacLaren, the Scotch author. The American talked for an hour and a half, about himself—what he thought, what he had done, what he was going to do, how much the world owed to his services.
When he had gone, Mr. Maclaren said gravely to a friend:
“What a boon it would have been to the Creator if this gentleman could have been present at the creation!”
The world is full of whirling problems and equally full of people who purport to know; just how to solve them.
There is need for more men in Congress, and on every street corner, who will confess ignorance as a means toward, courting knowledge, who will compromise to the extent of admitting that the other fellow may be at least partly right, and who when they gaze into the well in search of truth will be able to see something-there besides their own image.
The best lesson for the conceited person would be, after leaving a room, to listen at the keyhole. He would hear many things good for his soul.
And his greatest surprise, sometimes, would be to hear not a word about himself, either in praise or blame, when he supposed that he had created a sensation.
Not only do some people believe that the world revolves on its axis, but they believe that they are the axis.
They are more sure of things than Webster’s unabridged dictionary. .
“To realize your own importance,” said Robert Burdette, “put your finger into a bowl of ■water. Take it out and look at the hole.”
Napoleon’s great mistake was that he did not listen at keyholes. He did not hear the murmurs until it was too. late. When he had his ■ great opportunity to promote world democracy, he aped Caesar instead of Washington, sti-utted about in the robes of an emperor, until “God was bored by him”, says Hugo, and he was exiled.
And Europe, of which he considered himself the savior, wagged along even better without him. He had forgotten, or -had chosen to forget, this great truth: To do any uplifting, it is necessary to get underneath.
How much more genuine a greatness is expressed in Carnegie’s epitaph, written by himself:
“'Here lies a man who was able to enlist in his service rnen better than himself.”
True greatness is humble. The more a man knows, the less he feels he knows. The boy “knows it all” until he begins to know a little. This accounts for the eternal superiority of the younger generation. The malady is not new—evidently even in the time of Pope the world was troubled with the pride of inexperience :
“We think our fathers fools, so vise we grow;
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.”
Bible Students Abroad in 1925 By E. Louise Hamilton
VAT HEN the Cunard liner Berengaria sailed ' V out of New York harbor on April 15th last, among- her passengers was a party of Bible Students who were crossing the sea to attend a series of conventions to be held in Europe during the ensuing six weeks. For five of the number this was the initial trip, and to these all the incidents of the voyage were very interesting. All the way over the weather was typical of April—rain, sunshine, clouds, a mild thunder storm or two, but never a tempest or even a high wind. Our principal occupations were eating, sleeping, letter-writing and conversation.
On the seventh day out we passed Alderney, one of the Channel Islands, with Jersey and Guernsey scarcely visible in the background. Later on we came to Cherbourg, on the French coast. The tide was too low to permit the Berengaria to enter the harbor for several hours. Meantime as we waited for the tide to rise the seagulls sailed gracefully overhead, and fishing smacks came and went. Then the Leviathan appeared on the horizon, but lay out at sea until the Berengaria had left the harbor.
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