Various

“ Apparently they are wafted about the garden; they fly with no more effort than a dainty lifting of the wings, as if to catch the breeze that seems to lift them as it might a bunch of thistledown. They go through a great variety of charming posturings as they hunt for their food upon the blossoms and tender, fresh twigs, now creeping like a nuthatch along the bark and peering into the crevices, now gracefully swaying and balancing like a goldfinch upon a slender, pendant stem. One little sprite pauses in its hunt for insects to raise its pretty head and trill a short and wiry song. ”

“ When Topsy calls, “Tony, Tony,” the cat lengthens the distance between himself and the artful crow, for he knows by experience that she only wants the tuft of fur at the tip of his tail or a piece of the rim of his ear.
There is no trouble about feeding Topsy. As long as she has plenty to eat it does not matter what the food might be and she never stops to inquire whether it is fresh or not.
She is very fond of fish, and it is amusing to watch her when a fish cart comes along. ”

“ Unless the brain is reached or the spinal column broken a Tiger will not stop in his charge, and the most active man can hardly avoid his clutches.
An adult Bengal Tiger measures ten feet from tip to tip, stands over three and a half feet in height and weighs five hundred pounds. If we consider the strength, activity and ferocity of the ordinary house cat and then think of it multiplied a hundred times we can form some conception of the Bengal Tiger as he lies down by his water hole and wonders what he will kill next.
In color the Tiger matches the foliage of his native jungles. ”

“ They are not clothed in a plumage of gorgeous hues, but are endowed with melodious voices in harmony with their surroundings. “Theirs are the quaint lullaby songs of childhood.” Their plain coats are a means of protection, for they frequent the fields, the hedges and the low shrubs of the woodland borders. Some of their relatives, the grosbeaks, the goldfinch and the finches, are more brilliantly colored and are more arboreal in their habits.
The White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) is one of the handsomest of the sparrows. It is one of the exquisite parts of nature. ”

“ The meadows along the river are the pasturage of big herds of horses and cattle, and one is lucky if one’s perambulations are not interrupted by some inhospitable bull. As we ascend the river it grows swifter and more rocky and the top of the bluff rolls higher and higher and the hills appear in the distance. When we came to the first of these low hills we climbed the bluff and ascended it. It was a peculiar formation of stone resembling sand in softness or sand resembling stone in hardness, we could hardly determine which. ”

“ Cautiously they single out an Elephant, surround him and hold him in place, while men called noosers slip quietly down from the backs of the tame Elephants and fasten strong, soft ropes about his feet, after which he is marched out of the corral between two Elephants and tamed to work as they work, carrying heavy loads, dragging and piling timber, or perhaps marching in the splendid processions of Eastern kings. ”

“ But an animal as large and strong as the Elephant does not need to conceal himself, except from man, his great enemy, and when a troop of Elephants wish to pass from one place to another they often charge through the jungles and forest, smashing down trees and vines and leaving a broad trail behind 84 them. When disturbed or wounded by hunters they rush furiously through the thickets after their tormentors, and if they fail to catch and crush them in the first charge it has often happened that Elephants have returned and smelled them out as a dog scents a rabbit. ”

“ Although a very fierce looking animal, the Walrus is reputed to be peaceful and inoffensive except when attacked in the water. At such times he has been known to hook his tusks over the edge of the boat and swamp it or even to call in his friends by bull-like roars and smash the boat to pieces. Besides man, his one enemy is the polar bear, which creeps upon him as he sleeps and worries him to death. ”

“ The young are born in the spring, and generally on the ice floes, but being born fat the ice floes are probably as warm to them as is a nest to a little mouse. The mothers show great affection for their young, and will not abandon them in danger, even allowing themselves to be speared while protecting their offspring. As the Walrus are social by nature, wandering about in great herds, and as they also show a marked sympathy for each other’s misfortunes, it is very dangerous to wound one in the water lest the whole herd join in a common defense. ”

“ So while it is believed that its song is but a feeble twittering, it may yet be as much musician as it is bird, and emit strains of melody too exquisite and finely drawn for human apprehension, and of which the notes that reach us are but the deeper tones of a delicate and etherial ariose. ”

“ A most picturesque and safe way is to mount on an Elephant and be driven about through the country beating up the Tigers from cover and shooting them with the huge four-bore rifles which the English sportsmen affect. The principal danger lies in the stampeding of the elephant or the attack of a wounded Tiger on the elephant himself. The more common way is to build a shooting platform by some water hole or carcass and lie in wait for the Tiger, or, better yet, have a small army of beaters drive him from his lair and past the spot where the platform has been erected. ”

“ It enjoys the higher branches of its woodland retreat, and here it seeks its food. Graceful in all its motions, it flits from branch to branch; hanging by its feet, it peers under the leaves and along the twigs.
In the summer the Parula is a resident of Eastern North America, but in the winter it seeks the warmer climate of Florida and southward. While migrating it is well distributed over its range, and may frequently be seen flying from shrub to shrub. Like the other warblers its flights are short and most of the time it is hidden by the foliage. ”

“ Chapman says: “When the cypresses are enveloped in a haze of lace-like blossoms and the woods are fragrant with the delicious odor of yellow jasmine, the dreamy softness of the air is voiced by the Parula’s drowsy song.”
Neltje Blanchan has most charmingly written about this dainty bird. She says: “A number of such airy, tiny beauties flitting about among the blossoms of the shrubbery on a bright May morning and swaying on the slenderest branches with their inimitable grace, is a sight that the memory should retain into old age. They seem the very embodiment of life, joy, beauty, grace ”

“ She always receives a piece of fish if it is Mrs. Tyler’s fish monger that is passing, but it often happens that it is a stranger going by and then Topsy follows the cart down the street to see if he will not throw her a piece of fish. If he does not, she comes back chattering angrily at being cheated out of so enjoyable a meal.
Ethel will call, “Topsy, Topsy,” and the crow will come hopping to her. “Shake hands,” and Topsy will raise one of her black feet and put it in Ethel’s hand for her to shake. ”

“ The “cattle lifter” is a fat and lazy cat, who hangs around villages and kills a steer from the herds whenever he is hungry. Dragging away the carcass he returns to it until it is all eaten, when he kills again, while the timid and defenseless natives flee in terror or hover about, unable to protect their herds. It is after these fat “cattle lifters” get old and mangy that they turn “man eater,” finding it easier to catch the herdsman than to drag off a bullock. ”

“ The Parula or Blue Yellow-backed Warbler, as it is sometimes called, is one of the smallest and daintiest representatives of the family of wood warblers. Like the other species of warblers it is one of the last spring migrants to reach its Northern summer home. Retiring and unobtrusive in its habits, it is to be admired for its “plain and modest beauty.” Though delicately colored, its plumage is not nearly so striking as that of many of the other species of the family. ”

“ The homing pigeon has proved that locality is a faculty fully developed in the bird’s little brain, but I heard, the other day, an instance of memory in the species that was most touching. A lady living in the top story of a Boston skyscraper had been in the habit of feeding the pigeons and sparrows who flew to the little balcony before her window, and had succeeded in taming some of her pensioners, one or two pigeons even eating out of her hand. ”

“ We begin the descent, which at first seems extremely hazardous, and even on further trial sufficiently steep to make walking down more of a pleasure than riding, as we find. The road or path winds around and around, as necessarily it must unless one would go head-first to the bottom. It is narrow and steep and the ruts deeply worn in places by the action of water. About half way down we come upon what was once a canal, and we can see the level ridge of its embankment stretching away above and below us along the side of the bluff, as it curves in and out. ”

“ The young weigh about two hundred pounds at birth, and attain to over eight thousand pounds at thirty years, when they have reached maturity. At sixty an Elephant is counted in his prime, and many live to be a hundred or even a hundred and fifty years old. Eleven feet is the extreme height of the Asiatic Elephant. His specific gravity is so great that in swimming rivers his whole body disappears below the surface; but this gives him no trouble, as he breathes by thrusting the tip of his trunk above the water and can surge up enough to get one eye out when he wishes to see where he is going. ”

“ To attain the end of its being, the perpetuation of its species, it must steal a march upon its companions, as it were, and show itself while they are still locked in sleep, and when its insect fertilizers, fresh from their cocoons, can see and visit it. ”

“ The energy and perseverance of the little mass of flesh was a hint of that pugnacious disposition that would be so striking a characteristic when it became fully grown and clothed with its resplendent metallic plumage. ”

“ Further up the river ran in close to the bluff on our side, and as the traveling was rather difficult along land that lay at an angle of only five or ten degrees from the vertical, we scrambled to the top, at times slipping, and often pulling ourselves up by the weeds, so steep it was. ”

“ We first make our way down to the river’s edge and, lying flat on the sand and rocks, drink to our content of the cool water fresh from the snow of the Sierras. The river is about five hundred feet wide and varies from two hundred to a thousand at this point. It is not high now, for the spring floods come later, with the melting of the snow, and in its deepest part is not probably over eight or ten feet, but it is swift—terribly swift. It is a good swimmer that can hold his own with the current for five minutes, and in the swiftest part it is impossible for a man to make any headway. ”

“ To say that a plant can melt ice is to assert a miracle seemingly too great for even Nature’s powers to compass, but a traveler lately returned from the Alps has witnessed this wonderful phenomenon, while Grant Allen and other authorities confirm the fact that the Alpine Soldanella melts for its blossom a passage through the ice by power of its own internal heat. ”

“ Even individual species will change the usual plan of their nests in order to adapt them to the requirements of their environment. In favorable localities a new nest will be built each season on top of the old one of the year before. “The hermit hummingbirds fasten their elongated nests to one side of the extremity of long-pointed leaves for protection, it is supposed, against monkeys and other predaceous animals.”
The eggs of the hummingbirds, invariably two in number, are white and free from spots. Though very small they are large when compared with the size of the bird that laid them. ”

“ The nest, too, is a neat creation of small roots, coarse grass, bark and moss and lined with a bedding of fine grass and moss. It is usually placed on the ground in fields or open woods, where it is protected by the taller grasses. Sometimes, however, low bushes or the lower branches of trees are selected. So careful is the White-Throat in the constructing of its nest not to disturb the surrounding vegetation, and so neutral is the color of the material used, that one may hunt for a long time without finding it unless he luckily stumbles upon it. ”

“ Not until they are nearly grown and able to kill for themselves does she separate herself and leave them to shift for themselves. Young Tigers are far more destructive than old, killing three or four cattle and eating one, as if they wished to learn their duties in life well or were mad with the rage to kill. ”

“ The longer flights are by night. The days are spent in seeking insects, upon which it feeds almost exclusively. This, the habit of all the warblers, explains the Parula’s sudden disappearance from a locality where it may have been common for a single day.
Near the end of May it retires to the swampy woodlands where the gray Spanish moss hangs pendant from the branches and shrubs. Here the Parula makes its nest, a globular or pencil home, usually in bunches of the festooned moss. The four or five white eggs are marked near the larger end with specks of light brown and lilac. ”