Various

“ The milkweed may be used to illustrate how latex may be of service in warding off creeping insects. In many cases the plant is entirely smooth, and the stems of the flower cluster are even slippery. When an ant reaches these slippery surfaces it clutches for a hold and its sharp claws pierce the tender skin of the plant. Immediately a drop of latex oozes out and becomes sticky, and when the ant seeks to lift its feet there is resistance, and in the struggle the claws clutch deeper, more latex oozes out and becomes more and more sticky, until finally the insect is stuck fast. ”

“ The fact that so many eggs can be taken from one female and a very large per cent (eighty-five per cent or more) hatched makes it possible to plant, in suitable streams, a large number of young fish each year. If the eggs were deposited in the stream by the fishes themselves the greater number would be eaten by young fishes, crustaceans, insects, etc. Here is a case where man is able to assist mother nature, and to preserve and widely distribute some of our most useful fishes. The Rainbow Trout is receiving much attention and yielding profitable returns. ”

“ Well, you must know that there are many varieties of grouse in our broad land, but the ruffed grouse is the gamiest and handsomest in plumage of all the grouse family. It is swifter on the wing and harder to shoot. ”

“ He spreads his tail like a fan, and tries to make himself lovely in her eyes.
"They build their nest on the ground. It is made of grass, twigs and leaves. The mother-bird is very clever in protecting her young brood. If she hears someone near, she gives a cluck and they disappear, while she moves slowly along trying to lead the intruder away from the nest. When she can get behind a tree she flies swiftly away, coming back to the nest when she thinks all is safe. ”

“ At first a creeper and sharp-eyed inspector of hidden crannies, we afterwards discern no less in him, and upon the slightest provocation, a tyrant on the wing, thereby proving a general adaptability to and utility in his calling at all stages of the game—a constant warfare directed against the insect horde to which he devotes himself most assiduously at all times, and it is really astonishing the amount of the minute forms of insect life these little birds will consume. ”

“ He never knows enough to turn a corner. All his intelligence is like light, moving only in straight lines. He is impetuous and timid, and has not the smallest presence of mind or sagacity to discern between friend and foe. He has no confidence in any earthly power that does not reside in an old hen. Her cluck will be followed to the last ditch, and to nothing else will he give heed.
I am afraid that the Interpreter was putting almost too fine a point upon it, when he had Christiana and her children into another room where was a hen and chickens, and bid them observe awhile. ”

“ One is surprised to find the graceful Columbine, defying the storms, with its roots carefully fastened in the deep crevasses of the rocks of rugged mountains and protruding its nodding flowers above some steep ledge where human foot has never trod. ”

“ The teasel was once extensively cultivated as a fuller's plant, and one or two species of it have become common as wild plants, their dense and prickly flowering spikes looking like swabs for cleaning lamp chimneys. The plant is tall and coarse, and is peculiar in that its large opposite leaves unite by their bases about the stem to form a cup. In this way a series of cups is developed on the stem, and in each cup there is water. When a creeping insect crawls over the edge of the cup he sees the stem rising from a pool of water which must be crossed. ”

“ The interior of the earth was very hot and the crust cooled very irregularly and portions of it rose above the surface of the water. Since then there have been two antagonizing forces at work. The heat has caused the earth's surface to become irregular and the water has made a strong effort, which has been partially successful, to reduce all irregularities to the same level. We do not know how long these forces nearly balanced each other, but sooner or later dry land appeared in many places on the earth's surface. ”

“ In early times the word bird was used in the sense of brood and included the young of all animals. In an early act of the Parliament of Scotland we find the expression "Wolf-birdis," referring to the very young wolf.
At the present time the term fowl in its wider sense is generally used to include all the forms of farm poultry, both when living and when prepared for food. More specifically it is applied to the domestic cock and hen, or, as they are more familiarly called, chickens (Gallus domesticus) . ”

“ A much more common form, found growing in fields and woodlands, is the closed Gentian (Gentiana Andrewsii) . The fanciful name, Cloistered Heart, has been given to the plant because of the story that once a fairy queen sought to elude pursuit by secreting herself in the flower of a fringed Gentian. In order that she might be more effectually shielded, the plant closed the lobes of its corolla and in gratitude the queen decorated the interior of the flower with brilliant stripes. It is in order to preserve this fairy painting that the flowers have remained closed ever since. ”

“ We are told that the tame hen raises a brood of physically stronger offspring when allowed to select her own nesting place in some locality with natural surroundings.
The wild and the tame fowl alike eat a variety of foods, both animal and vegetable, but prefer the latter.
With reference to the habits and characteristics of this interesting domestic bird of our farm yards and orchards no words can describe them more aptly than those so delightfully written by Gail Hamilton, when she says:
"A chicken is beautiful and round and full of cunning ways, but he has no resources for an emergency. ”

“ We may think that we shall be able to learn all about the birds if we can get them into a cage and study them there. But birds are not free to do what they want to do when they are caged up, and there are many interesting things about them that we shall never know if we study only the caged ones. What we want to know is the bird just as he is as a free bird in the fields and woods. We shall not be paying much of the debt if we cage him up even to study his habits. ”

“ If flowers were as attractive to grazing animals as they are to insects they would be in danger of wholesale destruction. It can be observed, however, that these animals as a rule avoid the flowers of a plant, although they may strip off its leaves. It is believed that this avoidance is due to the fact that in or about the flower cluster there are usually secreted bitter, sour, or nauseous substances, which grazing animals have learned to avoid. ”

“ Banish all cats and dogs who love bird flesh. See to it that stray cats and dogs are in danger of their lives on your lawn or in your yard. Let every boy know that the birds on your premises must not be disturbed in any way. Instead of carefully trimming out all the tangles of the vines and branches remember that such places are where the birds delight to build their nests. ”

“ What is true in this respect of fishes is true of land animals as well. The large, ponderous, slow-moving reptiles of the Triassic, Jurassic and the Cretaceous, and the large mammals of the Tertiary and Quarternary could not exist except under the peculiar conditions of that time, and sooner or later had to give way to the smaller, more active and more resourceful animals of their class. ”

“ After we have watched them getting their own meals we shall know what each bird likes best, and then, instead of frightening them away with food that they cannot eat, we shall draw them to us by offering them what they like best. ”

“ Girard, a great lion-hunter, once took home with him two baby lions which were a month old. The lioness was about as large as a cat and the lion a third larger.
The little lioness was very timid. If anyone tried to caress her she would repay him with a few blows from her little paws. Her brother, whom they named Hubert, was quite different. He would sit quiet, looking with some astonishment at all that passed, but was not cross. He was idolized by the children, who were ever fond of petting him. The lioness could not be induced to take sufficient food, and she finally died. ”

“ Willow Grouse advanced to the log, chewing the bud of a birch tree as he came.
He bowed and said: "Mr. Chairman, you must excuse my slow speech, but you know I am the eldest brother of the grouse family and am not so strong as I used to be. Our history is certainly wonderful! Thousands of years ago we came southward with the ice and as the ice melted we flew north again. Today we live in many lands. I have traveled from Scandinavia with my wife and children, flying over Siberia and Alaska. My wife and I dress alike and our gray summer suits are good for traveling. ”

“ Perhaps ants may be taken as the best illustration of the insects whose visits are discouraged by flowers. They are very much attracted to the food supplies in the flower, especially the nectar, and are among the most intelligent of insects, often overcoming the most serious obstacles. They will be considered in this paper, therefore, as the insects which are seeking the nectar and pollen of flowers without invitation. ”

“ The seeds of this plant furnish a very useful oil; the flowers yield honey and a useful dye; the stalks a textile fabric and the leaves fodder. The seeds of this and other species are also used as food, and as a surrogate for coffee. The carefully dried and prepared leaves have been used as a substitute for tobacco in cigars. Poultry eat the seeds very greedily and thrive well upon them, due to the oil present. It is also maintained that a large number of sunflowers about a dwelling place will serve as a protection against malaria. An infusion of the stem is said to be anti-malarial. ”

“ Of the large group of Ganoids so abundant during all these geological ages but few forms are living to-day. These are the Ceratodus, lung fish of Australia; the Polypterus of the Nile, the Protopterus of Western Africa, the Dogfish and the three Garpike of North America. These few species are but the remnants of a once large and extensive group of fishes.
In the study of fishes we notice that some are highly specialized so far as their structures are concerned; the teeth of some become especially fitted for a peculiar kind of food, and as a result quite unfit for any other kind. ”

“ Being particularly fitted for one mode of life made them all the more unfitted for any other, and so when conditions changed they perished. All of our modern fishes except the few ganoids are more or less specialized. The trout lives in cool running water and some varieties can live in no other, while some fishes have become accustomed to warm, stagnant water and cannot live with the trout. ”

“ The same tactics which will catch a Rainbow Trout in one stream may fail in the next or even a second time in the same stream. It matters not in what mountain stream you fish the trout you catch are always superior to those you have previously taken in other streams. ”

“ The plainer and grayer markings of the female and immature birds may differ very considerably from the more pronounced black and white, orange-red and salmon-colored blotches of the adult male, but never so strikingly manifesting themselves in the markings of the tail which in either case may appear to the casual observer as quite similar. ”

“ Their legs are so short that they are compelled to move by jumping.
The wild hen lays from eight to twelve white eggs in nests, seldom of better construction than a few dried leaves or grass scratched together in a secluded spot. It is said that "to every hen belongs an individual peculiarity in the form, color, and size of her egg, which never changes during her life-time, so long as she remains in health, and which is as well known to those who are in the habit of taking her produce, as the hand-writing of their nearest acquaintance." ”

“ The Rainbow Trout will live in warmer and more sluggish water than the Brook Trout, and for this reason it is being planted in many streams in the east, which are unsuitable for the Brook Trout. It is also being planted in many streams once inhabited by the Brook Trout, but because of the change due to civilization have become unsuitable for them. ”

“ They outclassed in every respect all other animals. The same general types flourished as those which existed in the latter part of the Silurian. There were more species and more individuals and some grew to an enormous size. Fishes ruled the Devonian seas. The crustaceans, such as trilobites which greatly predominated during the Silurian age, diminished greatly during the Devonian. In the struggle for existence they decreased in size and in numbers, and were obliged to seek safety in less favorable places. The Devonian fishes were largely sharks and ganoids, especially the latter. ”