H. G. Adams

“ Everybody knows the Common Crow that goes caw-cawing over the fields through the long summer day, and hunts in the freshly-turned furrows for grubs and wire-worms, and settles down upon the marshes where the white flocks are feeding, dotting them here and there with great black spots, as though some literary giant had taken too much ink in his pen, and scattered it out over the landscape before he began to write. Oh yes, everybody knows the familiar Crow, called by scientific people Corvus corone, Latin and Greek again for the same thing—a Crow! ”

“ The shell becomes like a boat it is true, but its inhabitant neither points a sail nor plies the oar, but propels itself along stem foremost by a muscular action, which by alternately compressing and loosening a kind of siphon, throws out jets or gushes of water, which by the resistance they meet with from the surrounding fluid, give the desired onward motion, and away the swimmer goes, his long arms gathered closely together, and streaming behind like the tail of a comet, and its round eyes keeping a sharp look-out on either side. ”

“ It is a nimble active bird, constantly running about on the open plains and ploughed fields in search of food, which consists of insects of various kinds, green corn and leaves of vegetables, small berries, etc.; or in flying hither and thither in the air, now close to the ground as if about to settle, and then with a sudden upward wheel urging a strong and swift flight to some distant part of the field, or sea shore, which is a favourite resort in winter, where the birds collect in large flocks, uttering their wild shrill whistle, which harmonizes well with the sounds of the winds and waves. ”

“ We gather up those which we find, and looking at their structure would fain know [xii] something of the inmate of such a dwelling. All nature proclaims the goodness of God. We hear that the bird which wings its way over our heads has a song of joy; the bee hums delightedly by us; and the little shrimp which darts in the clear pool, seems full of merriment. Was the inmate of the shell less cared for by its Maker? No doubt the little builder had some sense of joy, as he framed from his own substance the house which excites our admiration. ”

“ A bold familiar bird is the Raven, with jet black plumes, and a large powerful bill, fitted for tearing to pieces the flesh of animals on which it often feeds; and a deep hollow voice, that grates harshly upon the ear; and strong feet armed with sharp talons; and wings that spread out to a great extent, and with regular and well-timed beats, flap, flap, flap, winnow the air, and support the bird in its long flight over land and sea; while the broad tail, now elevated and now depressed, now turned this way and now that, gives to the heavy body the desired direction. ”

“ Not handsome in form, certainly not elegant, nor well proportioned—with his short squat body and stump of a tail, thick neck, large head, and immense bill, little feet, that seem meant for a Sparrow, and eyes which, although bright and sharp enough, are much too small for the head. But he is a swift flier, for all that he looks so awkward; and see! quick as light he darts down upon that heedless fish that has come too near the surface, swallows it at a gulp, and is ready for another dart before you can look round you. ”

“ Now as the species in the early rocks differ from those found in later formations, quite as much as the latter from the mollusca of our modern seas, the gradual change in the character of the embedded shells marks a certain interval of time in the world’s history.” So we see that these rocks are the leaves of a great book, written all over with wonderful truths, and those who study such sciences as Geology and Conchology, are enabled to read much that is there written.
Every fossil shell that such a student picks out of the chalk, or limestone, is like a letter in the Alphabet of Creation ”

“ Beautifully marked and mottled is the dress of the plump little Partridge, as our readers know well,—delicately barred, and pencilled, and variegated, as if to shew what glorious effects may be produced with two or three colours only.
Partridges are tolerably plentiful in nearly all parts of Great Britain, where cultivation has smoothed the rugged features of the landscape; for, unlike the Grouse, which retreat as man advances further and further into the wilds of nature, these birds seldom go far from the farm and the home plantations. ”

“ If we take a peep through a microscope, under the direction of a naturalist named Rymer Jones, we shall see that “the shell of an Oyster is a world occupied by an innumerable quantity of animals, compared to which the Oyster itself is a colossus. The liquid enclosed between the shell of the Oyster contains a multitude of embryos, covered with transparent scales, which swim with ease; a hundred and twenty of these embryos, placed side by side, would make an inch in breadth. ”

“ Thus our examination of the egg has brought to view the three great necessities of all existence—protection, the shell and albumen; nutrition or food, the yolk; and the vital principle, to understand the nature of which has puzzled the greatest philosophers that the world ever saw. It is said in the Scriptures that God breathed into man the breath of life, but what this may be we can none of us tell; it is given to us and we live, it is taken away from us and we die; and so do all God's creatures, which by Him, and Him alone, live, and move, and have their being. ”

“ In shells, as in all the works of the Almighty Creator, we may observe an infinite variety of form, and if they do not all strike us as alike graceful, yet in each, however plain and simple, there is some peculiar beauty, whether it be the mere hollow cup, or the simple tube, the smooth or twisted cone, the slender spire, the convoluted oval, or half circle, ribbed or spiked, with a lip curving out like the leaf of a water lily, or a narrow rim, like that of a golden chalice ”

“ Salpice, at Paris, is a shell of this immense Clam, the valves of which are used as receptacles for holy water; it was presented to Francis the First, by the republic of Venice. Fancy the clapping to of such a pair of valves, when the animal closes its shell in alarm, and the strength of the cable required to moor it to the rocks or coral reef. The spotted species here figured has a solid and heavy shell, very elegantly shaped, and beautifully marked, as will be seen; the greatly reduced size of the figure prevents anything like justice being done to the original. ”

“ The Raven is known to live to a great age, often when in a domesticated state, seeing out two or three generations of a family; it is one of those birds which possess the power of imitating the human voice, and many anecdotes are told of its proficiency in this respect. It is a very sagacious bird, indeed so cunning that it has been thought by ignorant persons, to know more than it ought, and to be in league with witches and other "uncanny" people. Constantly do we find its cry alluded to by both ancient and modern poets, as ominous of death. ”

“ We all know that our Common Snails hybernate, or sleep through the winter. As soon as the chills of autumn are felt, they seek out some snug crevice in an old wall, or burrow in the earth, or congregate beneath garden pots, roots of trees, thatched roofs, or in any hole or corner that may be convenient, and then throwing a kind of temporary skin, like a drum head, which naturalists call operculum, over the opening of [20] their shells, and sticking themselves fast to the sides of their refuge, or to each other, they sleep away, careless of frosts and tempests. ”

“ Then again, as we see the strong-winged bird sweep far away over the wide sea, we think of the time when the waters covered the face of the whole earth, and "Noah sent forth a Raven, which went to and fro until the waters were dried up." ”

“ You sometimes hear of a person who leads a monotonous life, and you think perhaps of the Oyster shut up in his shell all alone, one by himself; this notion you now know to be a false one; although it is true that he has but one abductor muscle, and therefore belongs to the division of the Pectinidæ family called Monomyaria, while the Pearl Oyster has two, and therefore belongs to that termed Dimyaria. ”

“ There is something pleasing about the caw of the Rook, whether heard in the dreamy quietude of nature, or, as it often is, amid the bustle of the busy town; it is a sociable bird, friendly to man and his belongings. It is an English bird—a home bird, and reminds us of domestic scenes and pleasures. ”

“ The Pinna, as the marine Mussel is called, has a foot which is cylindrical in shape, and has at the bottom a round tendon, almost as long as itself, the use of which appears to be to gather in and retain the numerous threads with which, when inhabiting the shores of tempestuous seas, it lashes itself fast to the fixed objects around; these threads are fastened at various points, and then drawn tight by the animal, whose instinct teaches it that its brittle shell would soon be broken in pieces, if suffered to roll hither and thither at the mercy of the waves. ”