Latest / For the Birds / Birds and Nature, Vol. X, No 1, June 1901-Various

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Birds and Nature, Vol. X, No 1, June 1901-Various · For the Birds

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  Speaker 1: Section one of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
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  Speaker 1: June nineteen hundred and one recorded Flybrivoxto talk by taversh June.
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  Speaker 1: No price is set on the lavish summer. June may
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  Speaker 1: be had by the poorest comer. And what is so
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  Speaker 1: rare as a day in June. Then, if ever come
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  Speaker 1: perfect days, then Heaven tries the earth, if it be
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  Speaker 1: in tune, and over it softly, her warm ear lays
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  Speaker 1: whether we look, or whether we'll lesten, We hear life murmur,
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  Speaker 1: or see it lessen. Every cloud feels a stir of might,
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  Speaker 1: an instinct within it that reaches and towers and groping
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  Speaker 1: blindly above it for light climes to a soul. In
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  Speaker 1: grass and flowers, the flush of life may well be
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  Speaker 1: seen thrilling back over hills and valleys. The cowslip startles
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  Speaker 1: in meadows green. The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice.
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  Speaker 1: And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean
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  Speaker 1: to be some happy creature's palace. The little bird sits
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  Speaker 1: at his door in the sun, a tilt like a
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  Speaker 1: blossom among the leaves, and lets his illumined being, or
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  Speaker 1: run with the deluge of summer. It receives his mate,
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  Speaker 1: feels the eggs beneath her wings, and the heart in
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  Speaker 1: her dumb breast flutters and sings. He sings to the
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  Speaker 1: wide world, and she to her nest in the nice
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  Speaker 1: ear of nature? Which song is the best? James Russell Lowell,
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  Speaker 1: the vision of so loanful end of section one. This
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  Speaker 1: recruiting is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 2: Section two of Birds in Nature, Volume ten, number one,
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  Speaker 2: June nineteen oh one, recorded for LibriVox dot Org by
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  Speaker 2: mac Berard Bullocks Oriole Victorus Blocky Bullocks oriole, a species
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  Speaker 2: as handsome and conspicuous as the Baltimore oriole, replaces it
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  Speaker 2: in the western portions of the United States, and is
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  Speaker 2: likewise widely distributed. Its breeding range within our borders corresponds
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  Speaker 2: to its distribution. It is only a summer resident, with
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  Speaker 2: us arriving usually from its winter haunts in Mexico during
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  Speaker 2: the last half of March, and moving slowly northward, reaches
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  Speaker 2: the more northern parts of its breeding range from a
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  Speaker 2: month to six weeks later. It appears to be much
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  Speaker 2: rarer in the immediate vicinity of the sea coast than
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  Speaker 2: in the Great Basin regions, where it is common nearly everywhere,
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  Speaker 2: especially if sufficient water is found to support a few
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  Speaker 2: stunted cottonwoods and willows. During my extensive wanderings through nearly
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  Speaker 2: all the states west of the Rocky Mountains and extending
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  Speaker 2: from the Mexican to the British borders, I have met
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  Speaker 2: with this species almost everywhere in the lowlands, and in
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  Speaker 2: some localities have found it very abundant. Like the Baltimore Oriel,
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  Speaker 2: it avoids densely wooded regions and the higher mountains. It
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  Speaker 2: is especially abundant in the rolling prairie country traversed here
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  Speaker 2: and there by, small stone having their sources in some
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  Speaker 2: of the many minor mountain ranges which are such prominent
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  Speaker 2: features of the landscape in portions of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
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  Speaker 2: These streams are french with groves of cottonwood mixed with birch,
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  Speaker 2: willow and alder bushes, which are the favorite resorts of
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  Speaker 2: this oriole during the breeding season. The immediate vicinity of
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  Speaker 2: water is, however, not considered absolutely necessary, as I have
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  Speaker 2: found it nesting fully a mile or more away from
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  Speaker 2: it on hillsides, the edges of table lands, and in
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  Speaker 2: isolated trees or even in bushes in Colorado. It is
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  Speaker 2: said to be found at altitudes of over eight thousand feet,
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  Speaker 2: but as a rule it prefers much lower elevations. The
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  Speaker 2: call notes of Bullock's Oriel are very similar to those
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  Speaker 2: of the Baltimore, but its song is neither as pleasing
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  Speaker 2: to the ear nor as clear and melodious as that
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  Speaker 2: of the latter. Its food is similar and consists principally
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  Speaker 2: of insects and a few wild berries. The nest resembles
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  Speaker 2: that of the Baltimore Oriole, but as a rule it
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  Speaker 2: is not quite as pencile, and many are more or
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  Speaker 2: less securely fastened by the sides, as well as by
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  Speaker 2: the rim to some of the adjoining twigs. The general
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  Speaker 2: makeup is similar, as many of the sections where Bullock's
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  Speaker 2: Oriel breeds are still rather sparsely settled. Less twine and
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  Speaker 2: such other material as may be picked up about human
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  Speaker 2: habitations enter into its composition. Shreds of wild flocks and
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  Speaker 2: other fiber bearing plants, and the inner bark of the
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  Speaker 2: juniper and willow are more extensively utilized. These with horsehair
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  Speaker 2: and the down of plants. Wool and fine moss furnish
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  Speaker 2: the inner lining of the nests. According to my observations,
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  Speaker 2: the birch alder, cottonwood, eucalyptus, willow, sycamore, oak, pine, and
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  Speaker 2: juniper furnish the favorite nesting sites, and in southern Arizona
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  Speaker 2: and western Texas it builds frequently in bunches of mistletoe
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  Speaker 2: growing on cottonwood and musky trees. The nests are usually
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  Speaker 2: placed in low situation, from six to fifteen feet from
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  Speaker 2: the ground, but occasionally one is bound fully fifty feet up.
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  Speaker 2: A very handsome nest now before me is placed among
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  Speaker 2: six twigs of mistletoe, several of these being incorporated in
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  Speaker 2: the sides of the nest, which is woven entirely of
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  Speaker 2: horsehair and white cotton thread, making a very pretty combination.
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  Speaker 2: The bottom of the nest is lined with wool. The
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  Speaker 2: sexes are extremely devoted to each other and valiantly defend
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  Speaker 2: their eggs and young I once saw a pair vigorously
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  Speaker 2: attack of Richardson's square world, which evidently was intent on mischief,
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  Speaker 2: and drive it out of the tree in which they
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  Speaker 2: had their nest. Both birds acted with the greatest courage
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  Speaker 2: and dashed at it repeatedly with fury. The squirrel beating
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  Speaker 2: a hasty retreat from the combined attack. The young are
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  Speaker 2: large enough to leave the nest in about two weeks,
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  Speaker 2: and are diligently guarded and cared for by both parents
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  Speaker 2: until able to provide for themselves. Charles Bindyer from Life
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  Speaker 2: Histories of North American Birds into section two. This recording
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  Speaker 2: is in the public.
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  Speaker 3: Domain Section three of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
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  Speaker 3: June nineteen oh one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 3: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot or recording by
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  Speaker 3: Ken Davis, Derby, England. An afternoon in the cornfield. Uncle
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  Speaker 3: Philip was sixteen years old, tall and strong, with merry
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  Speaker 3: dark eyes, red cheeks, and thick, soft, wavy brown hair.
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  Speaker 3: Every day except Saturday, he was in school. Sometimes on
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  Speaker 3: Saturdays he went in the woods botanizing, or he rowed
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  Speaker 3: his pretty boat, the Lorelei, upon the lake. But often
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  Speaker 3: he went to his sisters Mamma Bryant's, to spend the
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  Speaker 3: day and work upon the farm. His little nephew, Lester,
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  Speaker 3: was always glad when he came for Uncle Philip took
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  Speaker 3: him with him to the field or barn, told him
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  Speaker 3: funny stories and taught him to take notice of all
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  Speaker 3: the things he saw or heard. One beautiful day in October,
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  Speaker 3: after the corn had been all cut, and was standing
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  Speaker 3: in big yellow stooks making long rows through the stubble,
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  Speaker 3: Uncle Philip arrived early in the morning at Leicester's home.
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  Speaker 3: Lester was still in bed when Uncle Philip came, and
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  Speaker 3: Mamma Bryant said to herself, I must go and see
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  Speaker 3: if he's awake. But just as she was about to
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  Speaker 3: open the door, out came Leicester in its white pajamas,
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  Speaker 3: rubbing his eyes and looking a little bit sleepy. Come,
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  Speaker 3: Lester said his mamma. I will help you dress and
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  Speaker 3: then you can have your breakfast. Uncle Philip has been
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  Speaker 3: here and he has gone to the cornfield south of
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  Speaker 3: the meadow. He hitched a Blotter and little Gray on
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  Speaker 3: a new wagon and we'll drive back to dinner. Come
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  Speaker 3: with me and get ready for breakfast. After breakfast, I
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  Speaker 3: want you to take your little sister Karen with you
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  Speaker 3: and hunt for the eggs. If you're a good, pleasant
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  Speaker 3: boy this morning, you may go this afternoon with uncle,
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  Speaker 3: and I will make some cookies for you to take
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  Speaker 3: in your lunch basket. Leicester, who was generally a very
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  Speaker 3: good boy, promised to do as his mother desired. Before
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  Speaker 3: dinner time, Aunt Dorothy came and it was decided that
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  Speaker 3: she too should go to the cornfield and take Karen
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  Speaker 3: with her. By one o'clock dinner was over. Ma'ama Bryant
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  Speaker 3: had decided that Lester's lunch basket was too small, so
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  Speaker 3: she had taken a peach basket into which he put,
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  Speaker 3: amongst other good things to eat, some large red apples
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  Speaker 3: and ever so many fresh baked cookies. Uncle Philip had
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  Speaker 3: driven up the roadway and was standing in the new
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  Speaker 3: wagon waiting for his passengers. Corn Huskers never take a
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  Speaker 3: seat on their wagons, but Uncle Philip had laid aboard
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  Speaker 3: across the wagon box, and on that Aunt Dorothy seated herself.
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  Speaker 3: It was a warm, bright day, and the wagon ride
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  Speaker 3: to the cornfield was delightful. Lotter and Little Gray were
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  Speaker 3: not a very handsome team, but they were good gentle horses,
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  Speaker 3: and the children loved them. Lotter was a white horse
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  Speaker 3: with black spots on him, which made him look as
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  Speaker 3: if he had been used for a pen wiper. On
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  Speaker 3: the way to the cornfield, a little rabbit ran out
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  Speaker 3: of the bushes by the roadside, but quickly hid himself again.
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  Speaker 3: The chipmunks stood on their hind feet in the tall,
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  Speaker 3: withered grass and watched the new wagon coming down the road,
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  Speaker 3: and popped into the holes where they thought it had
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  Speaker 3: come too near the plumy pappas of the golden rod,
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  Speaker 3: with great bunches of scarlet rose seeds, bursting pods of
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  Speaker 3: the sattine plants, and clusters of large red and chocolate
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  Speaker 3: oak leaves growing on a year old sprouts which had
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  Speaker 3: sprung up from the stumps of trees cut down in
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  Speaker 3: the fall, made huge bouquets in the fence corners. While
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  Speaker 3: driving through the meadow, the horses which were pastured there
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  Speaker 3: came up to neigh a good day to their friends
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  Speaker 3: in the harness, and trotted along for some time, on
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  Speaker 3: both sides of the wagon and behind it. At last
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  Speaker 3: the cornfield was reached, and Uncle Philip drove up to
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  Speaker 3: a corn stoop. Look at that bird sitting on the
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  Speaker 3: wire fence, said Aunt Dorothy. Isn't that a butcher bird? Yes,
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  Speaker 3: said Uncle Philip, that is a shrike or butcher bird.
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  Speaker 3: I should not wonder if it were the same bird
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  Speaker 3: that followed me around this morning. I won't tell you
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  Speaker 3: what he did, but if you will watch him, maybe
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  Speaker 3: you'll see something very interesting yourself. Uncle Philip put on
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  Speaker 3: his husking gloves and began his work, taking the ears
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  Speaker 3: of corn from the stalks in the stoke without disturbing
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  Speaker 3: it any more than he could help, and Dorothy remained
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  Speaker 3: sitting on a board in the wagon. Lester and Karen
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  Speaker 3: went to play in the meadow through which they'd just driven,
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  Speaker 3: and they frightened the butcher birds so that he flew
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  Speaker 3: away from the fence and perched near the top of
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  Speaker 3: a tall corn stick. In a neighboring stook, Karen found
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  Speaker 3: a dandelion blossom, and Lester a wild rose, a bit
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  Speaker 3: of pale pink beauty that had blossomed late, and alone
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  Speaker 3: on a bush whose leaves were dusty and faded. The
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  Speaker 3: children went to the hickory tree, expecting to find some
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  Speaker 3: nuts on the ground, but the squirrels had been there already,
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  Speaker 3: and nothing was left except some nutshells. Yes, there were
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  Speaker 3: three or four nuts, but when, by the aid of
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  Speaker 3: two stones, the children had cracked them, they found the
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  Speaker 3: meat inside all dried up and unfit. To eat. The
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  Speaker 3: squirrels must have known this without cracking the nut, otherwise
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  Speaker 3: they would not have left them as they did. And
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  Speaker 3: Dorothy and Uncle Philip were talking about the butcherbird. The
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  Speaker 3: butcher bird is found all over the world, said Aunt Dorothy.
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  Speaker 3: And it has different names in different countries. And it
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  Speaker 3: has been written about men who lived a long, long
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  Speaker 3: time ago, said Uncle Philip. And he told Aunt Dorothy
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  Speaker 3: some of those men's names, but they were so long
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  Speaker 3: and hard to say, I will not tell them here.
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  Speaker 3: The shrike is a cousin to the crow. Nearly all
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  Speaker 3: the crows have black feathers, but the butcher bird wears
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  Speaker 3: a different dress in France from the one he wears
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  Speaker 3: in England, and in India. He is still another guard,
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  Speaker 3: said Aunt Dorothy. Yes, said Uncle Philip, but all the
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  Speaker 3: shrikes everywhere have tooth bills. By this time, two more
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  Speaker 3: shrikes or butcher birds had joined the first one, and
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  Speaker 3: all three were flying about impatiently from place to place,
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  Speaker 3: just as if they were waiting for something to happen,
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  Speaker 3: said Aunt Dorothy. So they are, said Uncle Philip, who
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  Speaker 3: had finished husking the corn in his stoke. Call the
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  Speaker 3: children now, or I will he said, and whistled and
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  Speaker 3: beckoned till Lester and Karen came running to where he was. Now,
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  Speaker 3: he said, look at that stunted old tree over their children.
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  Speaker 3: Do you see the three butcherbirds in it? Yes, everyone
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  Speaker 3: saw the birds. Well, then he said, get into the
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  Speaker 3: wagon and keep watch of them. I'm going to drive
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  Speaker 3: to the next corn stoke, and away they went. After
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  Speaker 3: Uncle Philip had stopped the horses. He told Aunt Dorothy
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  Speaker 3: and the children to sit together on the board with
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  Speaker 3: their backs to the horses, and keep very still. I
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  Speaker 3: am going behind the corn stoke and will pull it
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  Speaker 3: away the best I can from where it now stands.
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  Speaker 3: Watch the birds and the ground near the stoke. As
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  Speaker 3: soon as he pulled away the corn stalks, he stooped
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  Speaker 3: down and walked away some distance as quickly and quietly
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  Speaker 3: as he could. Then Aunt Dorothy and the children saw
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  Speaker 3: the butcher birds alight on the ground for which the
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  Speaker 3: corn stalks had been catch young mice and moles. One
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  Speaker 3: of the birds took a mole to the wire fence
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  Speaker 3: near by and stuck it on a barb. Then he
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  Speaker 3: flew away, leaving it hanging there. He was going to
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  Speaker 3: catch some young mice to eat just then and save
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  Speaker 3: the mole for luncheon. His claws were not strong enough
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  Speaker 3: to hold the mole while he could kill and eat it,
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  Speaker 3: but if he hung it on the wire fence, he
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  Speaker 3: could use all his strength in tearing it to pieces
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  Speaker 3: with his strong tooth. To bill, everyone felt sorry for
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  Speaker 3: the poor mole, but all were glad to be able
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  Speaker 3: to see how the butcher bird gets his Dinner time
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  Speaker 3: went by, and soon Uncle Philip was ready to move
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  Speaker 3: another bunch of corn stalks, and Dorothy and the children
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  Speaker 3: prepared to watch again, for the butcher birds were still
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  Speaker 3: in the neighborhood and waiting anxiously for a chance to
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  Speaker 3: secure some more prey. This time there was a rat
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  Speaker 3: under the corn stalks, and the bold butcher bird flew
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  Speaker 3: at him and tried to kill him. The rat, however,
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  Speaker 3: got away from his enemy in feathers. One of the
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  Speaker 3: butcher birds caught a mole and stuck it on a
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  Speaker 3: long thorn on a hawthorn tree. Let us have some
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  Speaker 3: mility wheat as well as the birds, said Uncle Philip, so,
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  Speaker 3: who left Blotter and Little Grace standing in the field.
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  Speaker 3: And they were never known to run away, And all
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  Speaker 3: went to a pleasant spot in the meadow, and at
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  Speaker 3: the luncheon which Muma Bryant had sent in the peach basket.
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  Speaker 3: Oh how good those cookies tasted to Lester and Karen.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Those were happy passengers who rode home that evening on
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  Speaker 3: the yellow ears of corn. Karen had found one red ear,
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  Speaker 3: and she took it home and gave it a place
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: by the side of her pet playthings. At supper time,
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  Speaker 3: Lester told his Papa what they'd seen the butcher birds do,
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  Speaker 3: and Aunt Dorothy said, you must tell about it in school, Lester,
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: it will make a good Monday morning story. That evening,
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  Speaker 3: after Uncle Philip and Aunt Dorothy had gone home and
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  Speaker 3: the children had said their little evening prayer, Lester kissed
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  Speaker 3: his mother and told her he would try to be
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  Speaker 3: a very good boy every day for a whole week.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: And I hope I will have as good a time
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  Speaker 3: next Saturday as I have had to day, said he.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And all night long the little stars peeping through the
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: windows saw two happy little faces asleep on their pillows.
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  Speaker 3: Mary Grants of Sheridan, end of section three. This recording
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: is in the public domain.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: Section four of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: June nineteen one, Recorded for librovox dot org by Larry Wilson.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: The Return of the Birds. I hear from many a
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: little throat, a warble interrupted long. I hear the robin's
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: flute like note, the bluebird's slenderer song. Rown meadows and
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: the russet hill not yet, the haunt of grazing herds,
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: and thickets by the glimmering rill are all alive with birds.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: William Cullen Bryant, end of section four, Section five of
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Birds in Nature, Volume ten, number one, June nineteen one,
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Recorded for LibriVox dot org by Luri Wilson. House hunting
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: an orchard Town tis up and down in orchard Town.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: When airs with bloom are scented, you'll hardly find to
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: suit your mind a nook that is not rented. The
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: old sweet bough, they all allow. The robin first selected.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Our home is here. Good cheer, good cheer. All other
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: claims rejected. Chickadee d don't come to me. The titmouse
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: is refusing. We've leased this tree. Will friendly be, but
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: say you're late in choosing sweet, sweet sweet sweets. Across
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: the street, the yellow birds are moving. Chip chip of
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: cheese so dear as she he scarce can work for
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: loving on lower floor beside her door, the wren is
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: surely scolding. If one but glance, she cries, no chance
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  Speaker 4: to rent that flat. I'm holding to hear her scold.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: The sparrow bold and jay beside her dwelling cry cheep, cheep, chee,
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  Speaker 4: tease teas say we the noise and chatter swelling an
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  Speaker 4: orchard wall to quip and call a stranger days listening
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: his mate can hear in meadow near where daisy birds
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: are glistening. Oh lady link o ho, just think to
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: nest in trees, what folly when they might be like
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: you and me in daisy land. So jolly down pippin
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: way where branches sway, an oriol hammock sways mistress starling
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: and kingbirds. Darling rests near with brooding wings. If you
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: should go down Blossombroe, which runs right through the center
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: at each day in morning gray, you'd hear from every
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: renter for handed down an orchard town'tis quite a name
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: to wake the earth with song and mirth. Such joy
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: is their devotion. Isabel Gouldheue, end of section.
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: Five, Section six of Birds and Nature volume ten, number one,
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: June nineteen hundred one, recorded for LibriVox dot Org by
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: Betty B. The sanderling calidris Erinaria by the beach border,
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: where the breeze comes freighted from the briny seas by
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: sandy bar and wheaty rock. I frequent meet thy roving
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: flock now hovering o'er the bending sedge, nor gathered at
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: the ocean edge, probing the sand for shrimps and shells
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: or worms marine in hidden cells. Isaac McClellan. This little
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: shore or beach bird is sometimes called the white or
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: surf snipe and the ruddy plover. It breeds only in
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: the colder portions of the northern Hemisphere and migrate southward
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: even beyond the equator, where it makes its home during
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: the winter months. It frequents chiefly those regions near the
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: surf beaten shores of the oceans. It is also a
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: common visitor to the beaches of larger inland waters. On
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: these shores, its beautiful form and habits are very noticeable.
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: It walks and runs in a dignified and graceful manner
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: as it chases the receding water searching for its food.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: The pure white of the plumage of the under parts
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: of the bird is a striking characteristic, as they reflect
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: the sunlight during flight. It is a silent bird, and
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: it sometimes appears alone, though it is usually seen in
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: flocks and is frequently associated with other species of the
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: snipe family. Regarding its habits, some one has said, when
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: feeding along the extreme verge of the ocean, it is
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: pleasant to watch its active movements when advancing or retreating
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: with the influx of the sea. It is naturally very
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: unwary and regards man with less suspicion than most of
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: our snipes. When a flock is fired into those which
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: survive rise with a low whistling note, perform a few evolutions,
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: and presently resume their occupation with as much confidence as
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: previously exhibited. The feet of the sandaling are unlike the
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: other members of its family, being without a fourth toe,
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: entirely divided, and without a membrane. This indicates that it
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: frequents firm surfaces, and that it is fitted for running
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: and walking upon the long shelving beaches over which the
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: tides and surf roll, leaving an abundance of its particular food.
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: The nest of the sanderling, rudely constructed of dried grass
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: and decayed leaves, is placed in a depression in the ground,
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: so situated as to be protected by the natural vegetation
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: of the region. The eggs, usually three or four in number,
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: have an ashy or greenish brown ground color, and are
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: finely spotted with different shades of brown. The food of
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: the sanderling consists mainly of sea worms, small bivalve shells,
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: and crustaceans, though it will also eat buds and insects.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: It would seem as if its hunger was never satiated,
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: always busy, always moving. These expressions describe its habits, as
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: with its fellows and the other snipes with which it associates.
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: It seeks its food in the wake of the retreating wave,
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: and turning runs before the incoming water, which seldom engulfs it.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: For those who are so fortunate as to be located
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: near the feeding grounds, there can be no more interesting
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: recreation than to sit on the beach and watch the
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: peculiar antics of these delicate creatures. Frequently, without an apparent reason,
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: an entire flow a rise as if in answer to
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: a signal, and after executing a few turns alight again
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: resume the occupation it had left. End of section six.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: This recording is in the public domain.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Section seven of Birds and Nature, Volume tenn one, June
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: nineteen hundred and one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: libertyvox recordings are in the public domain. For more information,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Auto Volunteer, please visit libertyvox dot org. Recording by Tavsh Partners.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: No doubt every one knows the lichens, the greenish gray growth,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: sometimes like rosettes, or clusters of leaves, or of fruit
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: on tree trunks, or the gray rocks by the water,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: or even on the ground and old wood. Their forms
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: are various and often graceful, and mingled with their greenish
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: gray are many brighter colors, giving a rich tone to
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the rough surfaces they cover and adorn. But I dare
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: say that most of us have thought of a lichen
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: as a single plant. It is not so, though it
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: looks so exactly like one in its close union, it
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: is a partnership. Indeed, generally what looks like a single
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: lichen is a colony of partners keeping house together, or
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: a manufacturing firm, if you like that expression of their
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: business better. The partners are also kindred, or were so
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: in the past, for there was a time long ago
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: when there was only one big family of plants, the algae.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: The brown algae or seaweeds known as kelps often form
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the rack or tangle of weeds like long leaves or
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: branching stems with berry or fruit like bladders, thrown on
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the coast in great masses by a storm. And the
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: red algae, or the beautiful fern like and coral like
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: seaweeds that grow far down in the deep sea. There
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: are also the green algae, found in fresh water or
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: even on damp tree trunks and rocks. They have many
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: odd forms. One kind, called a pond's scum, is a frothy,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: slippery mass of spirally wound bands floating in ponds or
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: still water. Another called green felt is found in water
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: also and has egg like things from which spores or
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: seed like bodies escape to form new plants. They have
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: filaments at the bottom like roots that are called holdfasts. Lastly,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: there are blue green algae, jelly like masses found on trees, rocks,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: damp earth, or floating as green slimes in fresh water.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Most water plants are active and independent. They are on
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the upward road. For though they have not distinct stems, roots, leaves,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: or fruit, their different parts, as I have already said,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: show a decided likeness to these, especially their holdfasts to
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: roots and their air bladders to fruit. The exquisite red
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: seaweeds are as graceful in form and vivid in color
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: as many flowers. There is the remarkable foreshadowing of the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: moral law. Even among these early growths, some have shirked
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: their work, which was to absorb waste substances and manufacture
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: these into organized plant food. They tried to live on
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: other growths to the injury of the latter, and even
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: sank to feeding on dead substances. They lost the green chlorophyll,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: which is necessary for manufacturing, though the red and brown
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: algae do not show its presence because their other coloring
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: is more vivid, but it is present or the same
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: with every busy, self respecting plant. The lazy pauper growths
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: deteriorated more and more, and at last were no longer
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: algae at all, but fongi. They could not live by themselves.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Their only chance was to get active or well stocked partners.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: As the alga developed more and more into a likeness
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: of a perfect plant, so the fungus grew less like one.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: The white fairy mold on bread or preserved fruit, the
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: mildew on grapes and lilac leaves, the black knot of
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: cherry and plum, the ergo of rye, the rust of
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: wheat do not look like plants unless you study them
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: through a magnifying glass. Nor do the sly molds or
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the mushrooms. Toadstools, puffballs, and truffles bear much resemblance to flowers.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Some of these, however, are both pretty and useful. In
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the case of a lichen, the partners really seem to
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: be of use to each other. The fungus is not
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: a mere pauper living on his more active kinsman. If
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: you examine a lichen, you will find a large number
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: of transparent threads, and in their meshes lie the green algae,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: giving the hole a greenish tint. The little cups or
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: disks of the fungus that appear on the surface are
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: lined with vivid colors and have delicate little bags or
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: sacks with seed like spores inside. The fungus supplies a
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: shelter from extreme cold and also holds water in which
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the algae finds raw material. It is like a man
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: and wife housekeeping, the man providing the house and the
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: raw stuff flour, eggs, sugar, et cetera, and the wife
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: makes these materials into food plants by a of their
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: green stuff. Work over the carbon and other materials they
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: get from air and water and make sugar and starch
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: or organized food. This is their manufacture and they must
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: have an abundance of light to do it well. So
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: when the sea algae grow to be immense kelps or
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: seaweed hundreds of feet long, they are kept afloat by
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: their air bladders. Now it is true the fungus in
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: our lichen could not live at all without its busy algae,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: which it holds in its transparent filaments. But it is
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: not a useless partner, so we will not call it
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: evil names. I think you will be surprised to hear
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: after all, the warning given by these dependent and genuinely
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: worthless idlers in the plant world. Some of the beautiful
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: and blooming flowers have fallen into their bad habits and
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: are regular underground thieves. For the Gerardia or false foxglove,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: has established no partnership. It is plain stealing. It still works,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: so it has not lost its green of the leaf
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: or the purple and gold of its flower, but it
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: steals the materials for its work. When it becomes utterly
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: idle and useless, it will lose all its color and
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: be like the ghostly white Indian pipes that grow in
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: the shadowy pine woods. It is interesting to know how
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: it steals. In the dark basement chambers underground, the rude
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: servants of the plant move slowly in a certain circle
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: that corresponds to the circle of light that the branches
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: describe overhead. Within this space, they gather chemicals from the
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: soil and store up moisture, sending these by the sap
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: up their elevators to the well lighted leaves, where the
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: manufacturing of starch and sugar goes busily on. Now, the girardia,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: being too trifling to collect its own stuff, sends suckers
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: into the roots of other plants and greedily absorbs their contents.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: That is the reason it is so hard to transplant
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the girardia. Its roots are unmeshed and entangled, so in
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: other roots below ground, a very odd thing sometimes happens
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: to it. In the dark, the roots occasionally blunder and
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: tap other roots of the same girardea, just as if
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: a pickpocket in the dark were, by mistake to put
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: his hands slyly into his own pocket and steal his
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: own purse. Ella f Mosby end of section seven.
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: Section eight of Burden Nature, Volume ten, number one, June
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: nineteen one. Recorded for LibriVox dot org by Lori Wilson,
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: Oh Violet's tinder, your shy tribute, dwinder, Tie round your
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: wet faces, your soft hoods of blue, and carry your sweetness,
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: your dainty completeness to some tired hand that is longing
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: for you. May Riley Smith.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: End of section eight, section nine of Birds and Nature,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: volume ten, number one, June nineteen hundred and one. This
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording on LibriVox recordings are in the
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information, auto volunteer, please visit LibriVox
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: dot org. Recording by Teversh. The great Northern shrike Lanius borealis,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: of the great family Lanide, the shrikes of the order passers.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: We have in America only two species, the great northern
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: shrike Lanius borealis and the loggerhead shrike, which has been
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: dealt with in a previous article. The name of the
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: great Northern shrike is much more than a mouthful end
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: is all out of proportion to the size and importance
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: of the bird, though when I intimate it lacks in importance,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: I by no means means wish to say that it
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: lacks in interest. There are two hundred species of shrikes altogether,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: nearly all of them being confined to the Old world.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: When one comes to know fully the characteristics of the creatures,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: he feels that the birds would not have been out
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: of place if they had been classed in the order raptors,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: because they possess the distinguishing traits of the bird of prey.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: The shrikes, however, do not have talons, and they are
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: singers of no mean order, facts which perhaps disqualify them
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: for association with their larger, rapacious brethren. The great Northern shrike,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: more commonly perhaps called butcher bird, comes from Northern British
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: American Territory to the latitude of Chicago in the fall
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and stays through the winter, when it leaves for the
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: vicinity of Fort Andersen in the Crown Territories to build
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: its nest. This is placed in a low tree or bush,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: and is composed of twigs and grasses. The eggs number
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: four or five. During the winter, the shrike's food consists
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: almost entirely of small birds, with an occasional mouse to
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: add variety. In the summer, its diet is made up
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: chiefly of the larger insects, though at times a small
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: snake is caught and eaten with apparent relish. The great
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Northern shrike has the habit of impaling the bodies of
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: its victims upon thorns, or of hanging them by the
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: neck in the crotch of two small limbs. The bird
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: has a peculiar flight, hard to describe, but which, when
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: seen a few times, impresses itself so upon the memory
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: vision that it can never afterward be mistaken, even though
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: seen at a long distance. The great Northern's favorite perch
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: is the very tip top of a tree, from which
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: it can survey the surrounding country and mark out its
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: victims with its keen eye. In taking its perch, the
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: shrike flies until one gets the impression that it is
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: to light in the very heart of the tree. Then
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: it suddenly changes direction and shoots upward, almost perpendicularly to
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: its favorite watch tower. The great northern shrike is larger
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: and darker than its brother, the loggerhead. It is also
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: a much better singer, its notes being varied and almost
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: entirely musical, though occasionally it perpetrates a sort of a
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: harsh half croak that ruins the performance. In general appearance
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: once at some little distance, the shrike is not unlike
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: a mocking bird. The description here given for the adult
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: answers for both male and female. Upper parts gray, wings
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: and tail black primaries white at the bayse secondaries tipped
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: with white or grayish outer sometimes all the tail feathers
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: tipped with white, the outer feathers mostly white, forehead whitish laws,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: grayish black, ear coverts black, underparts white, generally finely barred
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: with black bill hooked and hawk like immature bird similar,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: but entire plumage more or less heavily barred or washed
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: with grayish brown. One has to have something of the
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: savage in him to enjoy thoroughly the study of the shrike.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the close daily observance of
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the bird involves some little sacrifice for the person whose
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: nature is tempered with mercy. The shrike is essentially cruel.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: It is a butcher, pure and simple, and a butcher
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: that knows no merciful methods in plying its trade. More
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: than this, the shrike is the most arrant hypocrite in
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the whole bird calendar. Its appearance as it sits, apparently
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: sunning itself, but in reality keeping sharp lookout for prey,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: is the perfect counterfeit of innocence. The Great Northern shrike
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: is no mean vocalist. Its notes are alluringly gentle, and
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: to paraphrase a somewhat famous quotation, it sings an and
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: it sings and is a villain. Still, there is one
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: compensation beyond the general interest of the thing, for the
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: student who has to endure the sight of the sufferings
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: of the shrike's victims in order to get an adequate
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: idea of its conduct of life. The redeeming thing is
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: found in the fact that, in the winter time, the
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: great majority of the shrike's victims are the pestilential English sparrows,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: whom every bird lover would be willing to seek sacrificed
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: to make a shrike's supper, though he might regret the
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: attending pain pangs. My own observations of the shrike have
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: been limited to the city of Chicago and to the
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: fields immediately beyond its walls. For those unfamiliar with the subject,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: it may be best to say that in the winter
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: season the shrike is abundant in the of the great
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: smoky city by the lake, and not infrequently it invades
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: the pulsing business heart of the town. No one ever
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: saw the placidity of the shrike disturbed in the least.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: It will perch on the top of a small tree
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: and never move so much as a feather barring its tail,
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: which is in well nigh constant motion. When the clanging
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: electric cars rush by, or when the passing wagons shake
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: its perch to the foundation. The great Northern shrike reaches
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: the city from its habitat beyond the Canada Line about
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: the first of November. For four years in succession I
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: saw my first Northern shrike of the season on November first,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: a day sat down in the church calendar for the
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: commemoration of all Saints. It is eminently in keeping with
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: the hypocritical character of mister Shrike Sinner, that he is
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: to put in an appearance on so wholly a day
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: from the time of his coming until late March, and
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: sometimes well into April. The shrike remains an urban resident
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: and harries the sparrow tribe to its heart's content. As
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: far as my own observation goes, the Great Northern shrike
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: in winter does not put very much food in cold storage.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I have never seen many victims of the bird's rapacity
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: impaled upon thorns. Perhaps I should qualify this statement a
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: bit by saying that I have never seen many victims
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: hanging up in one place. I have watched carefully something
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: like a score of the birds, and while every one
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: occasionally hung up one of its victims, there was nothing
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: approaching the general storehouse of food so often described. It
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: is my belief that this habit of impaling its prey
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: upon thorns, or of hanging it by the neck in
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: a crotch, is one that is confined largely to the
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: summer season, and especially to the nesting period. The Great
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Northern shrike has been said by some writers to be
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: a bully as well as a butcher. I have never
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: seen any evidence of the strait in his character. He
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: does not seem to care for what some small human
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: souls consider the delight of cowing weaker vessels. When the
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: shrike gives chase to its feathered quarry, it gives chase
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: for the sole purpose of obtaining food. While the bird
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: is not a bully in the sense in which I
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: have written, it displays at times the cruelty of a fiend.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: It has apparently something of the cat in its nature.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: It delights to play with its prey after it has
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: been seized, and by one swift stroke reduced to a
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: state of helplessness. Every morning during the month of February
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety eight, a shrike came to a tree directly
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: in front of my window on Pearson Street in Chicago.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: The locality abounded in sparrows, and it was for that
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: reason the shrike was such a constant visitor. The bird
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: paid no attention to the faces at the window and
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: made its excursions for victims in plain view. The shrike
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: is not the most skilled hunter in the world. About
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: three out of four of his quests are bootless, but
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: as he makes many of them, he never lacks for
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: a meal. The Pearson Street shrike one day rounded the
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: corner of the building on its way to its favor perch,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: and encountering a sparrow midway struck it down in full flight.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: The shrike carried its struggling victim to the usual tree.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: There it drilled a hole in the sparrow's skull and
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: then allowed the suffering, quivering creature to fall toward the ground.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: The butcher followed with a swoop much like that of
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: a hawk, and catching its prey once more, bought it aloft,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: and then dropped it again, as it seemed for the
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: very enjoyment of witnessing suffering. Finally, when the sparrow had
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: fallen for the third time, it reached the ground before
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: the shrike could reseize it. The victim had strength enough
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: to flutter into a small hole in a snow bank,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: where it was hidden from sight. The shrike made no
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: attempt to recapture the sparrow. It seemingly was a pure
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: case of out of sight, out of mind. In a
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: few moments, it flew away in search of another victim.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: The sparrow was picked up from the snow bank and
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: put out of its misery, for it was still living.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: There was a hole in its skull as round as
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: though it had been punched with a conductor's ticket clip.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: It had been my experience that the great Northern shrike
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: hunts most successfully when he, so to speak, flies down
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: his prey. If he gets a small bird well started
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: out into the open and with cover at a long
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: distance ahead, the shrike generally manages to overtake and overpower
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: his victim. If the quarry, however, is sought in the
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: underbrush or in the close twined branches of the tree top,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: it generally succeeds in eluding the butcher. One of the
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: most interesting incidents of all my bird observations was that
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: of the attempted capture by a great Northern shrike of
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: a small brown creeper. The scene of the action was
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: near the south end of the Lincoln Park Lagoon in Chicago.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: The creeper was nimbly climbing a tree hole, industriously picking
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: out insects, as is his custom, when a shrike dropped
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: down after him from its high perch on a tree
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: which stood close and overshadowed the one from whose bark
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: the creeper was gleaning its breakfast. The shrike was seen coming,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: the creeper for the fraction of a second flattened itself
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: and clung convulsively to the tree trunk. Then recovering, it
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: darted to the other side of the hole, while the
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: shrike brought got up abruptly and clumsily, just at the
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: spot where the creeper had been. The discomfited bird went
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: back to its perch. The creeper rounded the tree once more,
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: and down went the shrike. The tactics of a moment
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: before were repeated, the shrike, going back to its perch,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: chagrined and empty, clawd Five times it made the attempt
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: to capture the creeper, and every time the little bird
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: eluded its enemy by a quick retreat. It was a
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: veritable game of hide and seek, amusing and interesting for
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: the spectator, but to the birds a game of life
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: and death. Life one I ever have believed thoroughly that
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: the creeper thought out the problem of escape for itself.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: The last time the shrike went back to its perch.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: The creeper did not show round the trunk again, but
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: instead flew away, keeping the whole of the tree between
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: itself and its foe. It reached a place of safety unseen,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: the shrike watched for the quarry to reappear. In a
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: few moments, it grew impatient and flew down and completely
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: circled the tree. Then, seemingly knowing that it had been fooled,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: it left the place in disgust. Of the boldness of
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: the great northern shrike, there can be no question. It
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: allows man to approach within a few feet and looks
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: him in the eye with a certain haughty defiance, showing
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: no trace of nervousness, save the flirting of his tail,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: which is a characteristic of the bird and in no
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: way attributable to fear or uneasiness. One morning, early in March,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: when the migration had just started, I saw two shrikes
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: on the grass in the very center of the ballground
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: at the south end of Lincoln Park. They were engaged
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: in a pitched battle and went for each other much
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: after the manner of game cocks. The feathers literally flew.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: I looked at them through a powerful field glass and
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: saw a small dark object on the grass at the
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: very point of their fighting. Then I knew that the
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: battle was being waged for the possession of an unfortunate
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: bird victim. The birds kept up the fight for fully
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: two minutes. Then, being anxious to find out just what
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: the dead bird was which had given rise to the
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: row I walked rapidly toward the combatants. They paid no
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: heed to me until I was within twenty feet of
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: the scene of their encounter. Then they flew away. I
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: kept my eyes on the much ruffled body of the
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: little victim lying on the grass end, walking toward it,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: I stooped over to pick it up. At that instant,
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: as quick as the passing of light, one of the
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: shrikes darted under my hand, seized the quarry, and made
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: off with it. It was an exhibition of boldness that
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: did not fail to win admiration. I did not have
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: the chance to learn what bird it was that had
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: fallen a victim to the shrike's rapacity, and had been
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: the cause of that battle Royal. The great Northern shrike,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: when it is attempting to capture a mouse or a
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: small bird that has taken refuge in a bush, hovers
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: over the quarry, almost precisely after the manner of the
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: sparrow hawk. There are few more fascinating sights in nature
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: than that of the bird, with its body absolutely motionless,
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: but with its wings moving with the rapidity of the
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: blades of an electric fan. Sharply outlined against the sky.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: It fixes the attention and rouses an interest that leaves
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: little room for sympathy with the intended victim that one
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: knows is cowering below. A mouse in the open has
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: little chance for escape from the clutches of the hovering shrike. Birds, however,
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: which have wisdom enough to stay in the bush and
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: trust to its shelter rather than to launch out into
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: open flight, are more than apt to escape with their lives.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: In February last I saw two shrike pursued English sparrows
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: take to the cover of a vine covered lilac shrub.
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: They sought a place well near the roots. While flying,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: they had shown every symptom of fear, and were making
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: a better pace than I had ever seen one of
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: their tribe make before. The shrike brought itself up sharply
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: in mid air, directly over the lilac, and there it
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: hovered on light wing and looked longingly downward through the
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: interlacing stems at the sparrows. It paid no heed to
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: its human observer, who was standing within a few feet,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: and who, to his amazement, saw an utter absence of
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: any appearance of fear on the part of the sparrows.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: They apparently knew that the shrike could not strike them
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: down because of the intervening branches. They must have known
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: also that, owing to the comparative clumsiness of their pursuer
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: when making its way on foot through and along twigs
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: and limbs, that they could easily elude him if he
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: made an attempt at capture. After that manner, finally, the
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: shrike forsook the tip of the lilac bush and began
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: working its way downward along the outer edge of the shrub.
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: When it had approached to a point as near as
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: the sparrow's thought was comfortable, they shifted their position in
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: the bush. The shrike saw that the quest was useless
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: unless he could start them to flight. He tried it,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: but they were too cunning for him, and he at
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: last gave up the chase, the progress of which actually
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: seemed to humiliate him. He flew afar off where perhaps
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: the prospects of dinner would better. I once saw a
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: goldfinch in winter plumage escape a great northern shrike by
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: taking a flight directly at the zenith. The shrike followed
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: the dainty little titbit far up until the larger bird
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: was only a speck, and the little one had disappeared entirely.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: The shrike apparently could neither stand the pace nor the altitude,
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: and the watchers with whom the goldfinch was the favorite
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: in the race, rejoiced with the winner. Edward Breton Clark
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: end of section nine.
• 56:47
  Speaker 6: Section ten of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 56:52
  Speaker 6: June nineteen oh one, Recorded for Lipovax dot org by
• 56:58
  Speaker 6: Nemo or Hush tis he my Oriole, My glance of
• 57:06
  Speaker 6: summer fire is come at last, and have around the
• 57:12
  Speaker 6: watch twitches the backthread I had lightly wound about the
• 57:17
  Speaker 6: bow to help his housekeeping twitches and scouts by turns,
• 57:22
  Speaker 6: blessing his luck, yet fearing me who laid it in
• 57:26
  Speaker 6: his way, nor more than wiser we are in our affairs.
• 57:32
  Speaker 6: Divines the providence that hides and helps James Russell Lowell
• 57:39
  Speaker 6: under the Willows end of section ten. This recording is
• 57:44
  Speaker 6: in the public domain. Section eleven of Birds and Nature,
• 57:54
  Speaker 6: Volume ten, number one, June nineteen oh one, recorded for
• 58:00
  Speaker 6: LibriVox dot org by Nemo. The firebird. This oriole is
• 58:07
  Speaker 6: one of the most brilliantly colored of our common birds.
• 58:11
  Speaker 6: The name oriole is from Aurelius, meaning little bird in
• 58:17
  Speaker 6: gold Ruskin says that on the plumes of birds, the
• 58:21
  Speaker 6: gold of the cloud is put that cannot be gathered
• 58:24
  Speaker 6: of any covetousness. There is a story to the effect
• 58:29
  Speaker 6: that when in sixteen twenty eight, Lord Baltimore was exploring
• 58:35
  Speaker 6: the Chesapeake, worn out and discouraged, he was so much
• 58:39
  Speaker 6: cheered by the sight and sound of the oriole that
• 58:42
  Speaker 6: he adopted its colors as his own, hence the name
• 58:46
  Speaker 6: Baltimore oriole. This bird, however, rejoices in several other cognomens,
• 58:54
  Speaker 6: such as English robin, golden robin, hang nest bird, firef
• 59:00
  Speaker 6: and a golden oriole. He is both esthetic and utilitarian,
• 59:07
  Speaker 6: being beautiful, musical, social, and also useful in that he
• 59:12
  Speaker 6: feeds upon insects most injurious to vegetation, especially the harmful
• 59:18
  Speaker 6: small kinds passed over unnoticed by the birds of other species.
• 59:24
  Speaker 6: The Baltimore orioles fond of sweets. He has been seen
• 59:28
  Speaker 6: to snip off the heads of white headed or stingless
• 59:31
  Speaker 6: bees and draw out the viscera through the ring like
• 59:34
  Speaker 6: opening for the sake of the honeysack. How did he
• 59:38
  Speaker 6: know it was there? How did he learn that he
• 59:41
  Speaker 6: could get at it? In this way, the poet naturalist
• 59:45
  Speaker 6: Thompson Well says of him, you whisk wild splendors through
• 59:51
  Speaker 6: the trees and send keen fervors down the wind. You
• 59:57
  Speaker 6: singe the jackets of the bees, and tr ray and
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 6: opal mist behind. When flowery hints foresay the berry on
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 6: spray of haw and tougher brier. Then wandering incendiary, you
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 6: set the maple swamps afire. While the oriol song is
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 6: not especially melodious to me, it is fresh and cheerful,
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 6: with something of a human element in its childlike whistle.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 6: Young birds in the nest cry create t t tea.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 6: This bird is fond of building near the habitations of men,
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 6: selecting sites in dooryards orchards and lawns. He weaves an
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 6: artistic habitation at airy heights, choosing strong, flexible material for
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 6: the pendant bag like nest. In California, the Arizona hooded
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 6: oriole weaves nest of the beautiful Spanish moss, but one
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 6: occasionally uses the love vine or yellow daughter to construct
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 6: a gaudy pocket like nest. The firebird would not do this,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 6: for it always selects for its nest grayish bleached material
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 6: and harmony with the limbs of the trees. An experiment
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 6: was tried of placing a bunch of colored yarns near
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 6: its nesting place, in order to see what if it
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 6: used them. The choice of colors would be. It selected
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 6: all the gray threads, and when nearly done, a few
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 6: blue and purple, but not a single red or green
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 6: or yellow. Strand the strongest and best materials used for
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 6: the part by which the whole is supported. The Baltimore
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 6: Oriole is sometimes on intimate terms with his relative, the
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 6: Orchard Oriole. Last summer, the latter had hung its pretty
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 6: cup shaped nest on a branch of weeping willow near
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 6: my window. The tedium of her sitting was relieved several
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 6: times by a morning call from Sir Baltimore. He would
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 6: seat himself on a twig near her nest in utter
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 6: a soft, clear note, which no doubt meant a greeting
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 6: in bird language. When he went away for a few
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 6: moments later, his two notes sounded strangely like ah do,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 6: a translation for which Olive Thorne Miller is authority. But
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 6: his song and speech were less heated than the spectacle
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 6: of his brilliant flight. For look, the flash of flaming
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 6: wings the fire plumed oriole Bell Packson Drury end of
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 6: section eleven. This recording is in the public domain.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 5: Section twelve of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 5: June nineteen hundred one. This is the LibriVox recording. All
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 5: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 5: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 5: Betty B. Brandts. Cormorant Philocrocorax penicillatis. There are about thirty
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 5: species of cormorants which are distributed throughout the world. Ten
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 5: of these are known to inhabit North America. They are
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 5: ocean birds, yet they are also occasionally seen on the
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 5: larger bodies of fresh water. The Pacific coast of North
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 5: America and the shores of New Zealand are rich in species,
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 5: and their plumage is more beautiful than that of those
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 5: found in other parts of the world. The name cormorant
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 5: is derived from the Latin words corvus marinus, meaning marine
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 5: crow or raven. This name may have been suggested by
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 5: the fact that these birds are fond of sitting on
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 5: an elevated perch, especially after a hearty meal. In this
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 5: habit of seeking high perches, and because of their dark color,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 5: they resemble the raven or crow. The generic name Phela
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 5: crocorax is derived from the Greek words meaning bald crow.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 5: One of the species that frequents the coast of Europe
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 5: is easily tamed, and in early times was trained to
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 5: fish for its master. There was even an appointment in
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 5: the royal household known as the Master of the cormorants.
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 5: When used in fishing, a strap is fastened around the
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 5: bird's neck so as without impeding its breath to hinder
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 5: it from swallowing its captures. Arrived at the water side,
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 5: it is cast off. It at once, dives and darts
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 5: along the bottom as swiftly as an arrow in quest
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 5: of its prey, Rapidly scanning every hole or pool. A
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 5: fish is generally seized within a few seconds of its
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 5: being sighted, and as each is taken, the bird rises
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 5: to the surface with its capture in its bill. It
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 5: does not take much longer to dispose of the prize
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 5: in the dilatable skin of its throat, so far as
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 5: the strap will allow, and the pursuit is recommenced until
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 5: the bird's boular pouch capacious as it is will hold
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 5: no more. It then returns to its keeper, who has
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 5: been anxiously watching and encouraging its movements, and a little
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 5: manipulation of its neck affects the delivery of the booty.
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 5: The cormorants are voracious eaters. They catch the fish, which
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 5: is their usual food, under water by rapid swimming and
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 5: with the aid of their hooked bills. On account of
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 5: this habit of the bird, the word cormorant has been
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 5: used synonymously with the word glutton, rapacious, or avaricious when
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 5: applied to a person who exhibits these traits. Brand's cormorant,
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 5: the word of our illustration, is found on the Pacific
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 5: coast from the state of Washington southward to Cape Saint
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 5: Lucas at the southern extremity of Lower California. In its habits,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 5: it is gregarious and collects in great numbers wherever its
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 5: natural food of fish is plentiful. These flocks present a
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 5: very odd appearance, and their long necks appear as numerous
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 5: black sticks on the watery background. Mister Leverett M. Loomis
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 5: Well illustrates the habits of these birds in a report
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 5: on the California water birds. He says of a rookery
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 5: which is situated on a rock or little islet in
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 5: the ocean at the extremity of Point Carmel, about fifteen
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 5: yards from the mainland. This rock rises perpendicularly, some forty
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 5: or more feet above the water. At first sight, it
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 5: does not seem that it can be scaled, but closer
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 5: inspection reveals that a foothold may be had in the
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 5: seams and protuberances on its water worn sides. Only on
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 5: days when the sea is very calm can the rock
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 5: be landed upon, and then only from the sheltered channel
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 5: separating it from the mainland. We first took a view
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 5: of the rookery from the mainland. The cormorants were very tame,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 5: remaining on their nests while we clambered down the sloping rocks,
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 5: and while we stood watching them on the same level
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 5: only a few yards away. They were equally tame when
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 5: our boat drew nearer. As we approached from the water,
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 5: the clefts and the sides of the rock were occupied
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 5: by Beard's cormorant, and the top by brands. There were
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 5: comparatively few of the former, but of the branch cormorant
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 5: there were upwards of two hundred pairs. Their nests covered
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 5: the top of the rock, every available situation being occupied.
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 5: Standing in one place, I counted one hundred and eighteen.
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 5: He also dates that the cormorants remained on the nests
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 5: till he fired his gun, and they lingered on the
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 5: edge of the rock while he walked among the nests.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 5: A few yards away on the rock were many piles
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 5: of sardines, evidently placed near the nests for the use
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 5: of the sitting bird. The nests are nearly circular when
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 5: placed on top of the rocks, and are usually constructed
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 5: of eel grass. They are generally placed in the most
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 5: inaccessible places and at various heights above the surface of
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 5: the water. The cormorants frequent the same locality from year
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 5: to year and experience considerable difficulty in constructing their nests
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 5: because of the gulls, which frequently carry away the material
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 5: as fast as it can be gathered. The young, when
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 5: first hatched, are entirely devoid of plumage, and their skin
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 5: resembles a greasy black kid glove. It is said that
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 5: the gulls feed upon these young birds. Mister Frank M.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 5: Woodruff relates the following observations made during a recent trip
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 5: to California. He says the brans cormorant is the common
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 5: species wintering in southern California, like the California brown pelican
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 5: and the surf ducks, only the juvenile birds are found
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 5: in the bay close to the city of San Diego.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 5: As one rose about the harbor, close to the shipping
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 5: ducks and by the old deserted fishermen's huts along the slips,
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 5: large numbers of brans cormorants and pelicans can be seen
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 5: perched on and almost covering the sunny sides of the
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 5: roof tops. They sit in rows like sentinels, with the
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 5: head well down upon the shoulders, undisturbed by the noise
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 5: of traffic, and only by continued wrapping on the building
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 5: with an oar can they be induced to take to flight.
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 5: It will usually circle for a short time in a
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 5: lazy manner, and then return to their old position. The
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 5: older birds are rather more wary and usually feed a
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 5: mile or so from the shore in flocks of from
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 5: three to ten. The loose kelp floating in the bay
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 5: attracts the smaller fish. Such places form their feeding grounds
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 5: after they become gorged with fish, they fly to the
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 5: rocks along the jetties and to the cross bars of
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 5: the buoys which mark the deep water channels. The birds
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 5: are perfect luttons, and as I lifted it into the boat,
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 5: they're dropped from the goular sac of one specimen that
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 5: I shot over twenty small fish. The beautiful iridescence of
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 5: the dark copper green plumage of the adult cormorant can
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 5: only be appreciated when the freshly killed bird is seen.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 5: Seth Mindwell, end of section twelve.
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 2: Section thirteen of Birds in Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 2: Jim nineteen o one, recorded for LibriVox dot org by
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 2: Matt Perard. Mate or Paraguay Tea by Anna Rosalie Henderson.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 2: It is a trend saying, but a very true one,
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 2: that one half the world does not know how the
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: other half lives. This will apply to food and drink,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 2: as well as to other things. So widely do customs
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: vary in different regions. While tea, coffee, and chocolate, all
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 2: products of warm climates, have come into general use as
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 2: table drinks over the greater portion of the globe so
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 2: as to be universally known, there is a beverage of
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 2: similar use, the favorite of millions, which is practically unknown
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 2: to the world at large. Matte To subables is the
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: name of the prepared leaves of a shrug or a
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 2: tree belonging to the Ramses family, and has the scientific
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 2: name of Cassine than Honha, but is more generally known
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 2: as Alex paraguayensis, as it was first used by the
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 2: Indians of Paraguay. It belongs to the natural order of
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 2: the holly, to which it bears much resemblance. Its leaves
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 2: are six to eight inches long, short, stock oblong, wedge shaped,
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: and finely toothed at the margin. The small white flowers
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 2: are borne in clusters at the axles of the leaves.
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 2: It bears a four seeded berry, but the leaves are
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 2: used for decoction, except for a very fine quality, which
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 2: is made from the dried flower funds. It abounds in
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 2: the forests of Paraguay and Brazil, where it is a
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 2: tree of considerable size. It is cultivated to some extent,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 2: but in this state remains a shrub and the quality
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 2: is finer. It may be gathered at any season of
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 2: the year, and the leaves must become dry enough to
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: pulverize before they are fit for use. Where it is cultivated,
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: it is dried in metal pans after the manner of
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: Chinese tea, but far greater quantities are gathered in the
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 2: forests and dried in the primitive method adopted from the Indians.
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 2: A drying floor is prepared by clearing a space of
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 2: ground and pounding it hard with a mallet. On this,
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 2: a fire is built, and after the ground is well heated,
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 2: it is swept off clean and branches from the neighboring
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 2: forests spread upon it. Afterwards, they are placed upon a
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 2: rude arbor made of hurdles, and a slow fire beneath
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 2: completes the drying process. When quite brittle, the leaves are
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: pounded in a mortar and reduced to small particles, but
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 2: not to a powder. The preparation of it consists in
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 2: placing a small quantity of it in a vessel with
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 2: sugar if desired, and adding a little cold water. After
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 2: a little while, boiling water is poured on and it
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 2: is then ready for use. As the leaf particles do
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: not settle well, it must be sipped through too. The
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 2: Natives for steeping it used a calabash gourd called mate,
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 2: whence its common name matte, yerba or calabache plant. These
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 2: gores are still often used and are convenient as they
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 2: have a handle. Cocoa nut shells with handles of silver
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 2: or other metal are astill popular. A reed or a
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 2: metal tube with a small perforated bowl at the bottom
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: is used to sip it through. This is called a bombilla.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 2: It is customary with the Spaniards and Portuguese to offer
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 2: matte to visitors in the gardens of that sunny region.
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 2: Fine flat arbors are furnished with seats where the family
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: with their visitors will sit in the cool of the evening,
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 2: each one supplied with a bombia and a cocoa nut
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 2: or calabash bowl of mate. Through a small opening in
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 2: the top of the vessel, the tube is inserted and
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 2: the grateful infusion is enjoyed while matters of interest are discussed.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: Grape virtues are ascribed to the strength its properties appear
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 2: to be chiefly due to theon and caffeine. In Chile
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 2: and Peru, it is in universal use and is considered
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 2: more necessary than meat. On the plains of Argentina, the
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 2: gaucho or cowboy washes down his dried beef with copious
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 2: droughts of mate, as is content with his meal. To northerners,
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 2: the taste is not agreeable. It seems weedy and slightly bitter.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 2: For shipment, the leaves, when dried, are packed in oblong
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 2: cases or bags made of rawhide carefully sowed. These packages
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 2: contain one hundred twenty pounds each. Since the beginning of
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 2: the seventeenth century, the strength has been used in Paraguay,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 2: and its use now extends all over South America. It
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 2: is estimated that the amount used annually exceeds sixty eight
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 2: million pounds. It is being introduced into other countries, and
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 2: the time may come when the bombilla and the bowl
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 2: of mate may become a rival of five o'clock tea
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 2: in English and American parlors. End of section thirteen. This
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 2: recording is in the public domain.
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 4: Section fourteen of Birds in Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 4: June nineteen one, recorded for LibriVox dot Org by Larry Wilson.
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 4: Behind the cloud, the starlight lurks through showers, the sunbeams fall.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 4: For God, who loveth all his works, has left his
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 4: hope with all John Greenleaf with her in no section fourteen.
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: Section fifteen of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: June nineteen hundred one. This is a Libertyvox recording. All
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: Libertyvox recordings are in the public domain. For more information,
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: Auto Volunteer, please visit libertyvox dot org. Recording by Tavaresh
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: The American buffalo bison americanus. The supremacy of man over
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: the lower forms of animal life has no better illustration
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: than that furnished by the rapid extermination of the American
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: buffalo bison or boss americanus. Much less than a century ago,
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: in immense herds, this animal swarmed over the prairies of
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: the United States unmolested except by the Indians, who sought
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: it for food and for the economic value of its hide.
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: It was free to seek those localities which would furnish
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: it the best and most abundant food supply. Even as
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: late as the sixties of the last century, the American
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: buffalo was represented by thousands upon thousands of individuals, whose
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: numerous paths leading from the feeding grounds to a supply
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: of fresh water were known to the frontiersmen as buffalo trails.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty nine, mister William T. Hornaday estimated the
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: number of survivors to be eight hundred and thirty five,
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: inclusive of the two hundred then living in the Yellowstone
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: Park under the protection of the government. The passing from
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: the face of the earth of this the largest of
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: the native animals of North America, has taken place within
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: the last thirty years, and this extermination may be laid
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: at the door of the zealous hunter and trapper, who
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: systematically shot and destroyed them in order to obtain the
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: small profit that their skins would bring. It is said
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: that one of the railroads crossing the continent from the
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: Mississippi River to the Pacific coast carried about two hundred
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: thousand skins within a year after it was opened to traffic.
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: One writer records the reception of over forty thousand pelts
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: by a single firm in the year eighteen seventy five.
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: Many instances of the wanton butchery of this noble and
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: useful animal might be mentioned, but it is much better
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: illustrated by the absence of the buffalo at the present
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: time from all localities, except where it is protected by
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: the same hand which has brought about its struction. In
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight, when a party was traversing the country
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: by wagon train from the state of Missouri to Mexico.
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: They were continually surrounded by large herds of buffaloes. An
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: eye witness said, in bands, in masses, in hosts, the
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: shaggy black creatures thundered along in front of us, sometimes
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: from north to south, sometimes from south to north. For
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: forty consecutive hours, we had them in sight, thousands upon thousands,
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: tens of thousands upon tens of thousands, and innumerable mass
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: of untamed animals, the flesh of which, as we believed,
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: was sufficient to provide the wigwams of the Indians unto
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: all eternity. The American buffalo belongs to the Ox tribe
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: of the family of horned animals Bovidae. Among its immediate
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: relatives are the musque oks of the Arctic regions of America,
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: the yak of the mountainous regions of Tibet, the zebu,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: an East Indian species, the cape buffalo, a ferocious animal
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: of the central and southern portions of Africa, the Indian
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: buffalo living in southern Asia, and the European bison. The
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: European bison, like its American relative, has suffered from the
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: hunter and the advance of civilization, and is practically exterminated.
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: It now exists only in a few forests on the
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: Caucasus and in the famous forests and game preserve of
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: the Tsars of Russia called Lithuania. Here protected by stringent
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: laws through several centuries, the European bison has been saved
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: from absolute extermination. In former times this was different for
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: the bison ranged all over Europe and a large portion
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: of Asia in the time of Caesar. According to his
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: own record, they abounded in Germany and Belgium. So it
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: is with the American buffalo. Were it not for government
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: and private preserves, this one of the largest of living quadrupeds,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: would be unknown to future generations except by museum specimens.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: Correctly speaking, the American species should be called bison. So universal, however,
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: is the use of the term buffalo that the word
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: bison would puzzle many people. Strictly speaking, the name buffalo
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: should be applied only to designate the Cape and Indian species.
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: The original range of the American buffalo extended from but
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: little west of the Atlantic coast westward to the Rocky Mountains,
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: and from Mexico on the south northward to about the
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: sixty fifth degree of north latitude by the trappers. The
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: buffaloes were placed in two classes. Those that frequented the
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: mountain ranges were called bison. They were seldom seen on
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: the plains, the home of the other class. Their limbs
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: were shorter and stouter, and better fitted for a rough country.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: There existed in former ages two other species entirely distinct
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: from the animal with which we are familiar. They were
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: much larger, possibly as large as an elephant, and were
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: probably associates of the mastodon and the mammoth. A fully
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: adult male buffalo will measure about nine or ten feet
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: in length from the muzzle to the tail. Its height
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: at the four quarters is from five to six and
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: one half feet. The female is much smaller and weighs
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: from seven to eight hundred pounds less than the male,
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: the weight of which averages eighteen hundred pounds. The buffalo's
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: massive head, with its short curved horns, which are set
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: far apart on the broad forehead, is connected with the
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: body by a short, deep and narrow neck. From the neck,
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: the body rises, forming a large hump on the back
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: over the fore legs, which gives the animal an odd
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: and unwieldy appearance. This hump consists of fat and strong
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: muscles which control the movements of the massive head. From
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: the hump, the body tapers downward so that the hind
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: quarters are low and narrow. The anterior portion of the body,
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: the fore legs, and the head are covered with long hair.
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: On the forehead and back, the hair is curly and matted.
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: In the early spring, most of the long hair is shed,
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: resulting in a modification of the color of the buffalo.
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: The new coat is a uniform grayish brown deepening into
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: black brown in the main, which covers the top part
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: of the head, forehead, neck, and under surface of the throat.
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: Captain Doyle, in an article published in The American Naturalist,
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: says white buffaloes have frequently been seen and killed or
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: the Indian tribes regard them as big medicine, but they
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: have different superstitions regarding them. For instance, Catlin the painter,
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: while among the Mandans in eighteen thirty two, saw a
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: white buffalo robe erected on a pole in their village
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit. It had been
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: purchased from their black feet, who killed the buffalo for
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: eight horses and a quantity of goods. On the other hand,
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: the Comanches believe it very dangerous to see a white buffalo.
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty nine, I saw a young Comanche who
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: had seen a white buffalo returned to his camp almost
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: dead with fear. He was taken into his tent. The
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: medicineman was sent for, and they smoked him and kept
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: up incantations over him day and night for a week.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: When he came out, he believed that he had had
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: a very narrow escape from death. In eighteen fifty nine,
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: a white buffalo was killed by a white man on
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: the north fork of the Red River. He desired to
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: have it dressed to preserve it, but failed to get
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: any Indian to undertake the task for a long time.
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: At last he prevailed on a Camanche chief named Horseback
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: to have the operation performed. Horseback selected one of his squaws,
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: had the medicine men of his band go through various
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: ceremonies over her to preserve her life, and then place
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: her in a teepee some distance from his camp, where
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: the hide was taken to her by a soldier and
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: brought away by him when dressed. No other Indian would
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: look at the hide much less touch it. Her food
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: was left for her at some distance from the tibe,
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: and when the robe was dressed, medicine ceremonies were held
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: over her before she was allowed to join the camp.
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: These gregarious animals, during the period of their supremacy rarely
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: remained for any great length of time in any given locality. Frequently,
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: as if moved by a sudden and general impulse, the
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: whole herd, made up of many smaller companies, each with
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: its leader, would start, all the individuals moving in the
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: same direction. No barriers seemed too great to overcome. Moving
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: in a straight line, they would swim or ford rivers,
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: find some means of crossing chasms, but still move on,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: as if led by some irresistible impulse. These migrations, in
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: many instances may have been due to the necessity of
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: seeking a more plentiful supply of food, especially when the
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: pastures in the more northern regions became covered with snow.
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: This caused them to move southward. The northern tribes of
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: Indians did not believe that the same individuals returned as
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: the climactic conditions permitted, but that the buffaloes were produced
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: in immense numbers underground, and that in the spring they
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: came forth from a great mountain far to the south,
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: a herd of new individuals coming north each season. Since
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: the buffaloes have disappeared from the plains, some Indians claim
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: that the holes in the southern mountains in which the
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: buffaloes were formed have been closed by some evil spirit.
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: Doctor Brehm tells us that among the buffalo's perceptive senses,
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: those of smell and hearing rank first. In its mental qualities,
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: it does not differ from its other relatives. It is
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: little gifted, good natured, and timid, incapable of rapid excitement.
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: But when it is irritated, it is apt to forget
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: all considerations which generally influence it, and it will then
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: oppose an enemy with courage. It would seem that the
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: buffalo depends upon the sense of smell rather than that
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: of sight, for when running from danger, it holds the
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: muzzle near the ground and rushes with incredible swiftnes in
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: the opposite direction. Obstinacy is one of the most marked
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: characteristics of the buffalo. When once moved to a certain action,
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: nothing seemed to sway a herd from its decision. Boats
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: on rivers have been known to stop and wait for
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: the passing of a herd that was swimming across the stream.
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: Railroad trains have also been brought to a standstill by
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: the herds crossing the tracks. The American buffalo was in
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: reality an inoffensive beast, and its ferocious appearance was due
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: to its great bulk. They are not intractable to domestication,
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: readily entering into friendly relations with individuals who treat them kindly.
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: At least they learned to recognize their keeper and to
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: love him to a certain degree. Years ago, the buffalo
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: was the friend and of the American Indian. It furnished
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: him not only with food, but its skin served him
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 1: as a blanket and as a covering for his teepees.
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: Its skin also provided the leather from which he made
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: his clothing and footwear. At this time, as Milhausen has said,
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: the buffalo could, in a certain sense be considered a
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: domestic animal of the Indians. No diminution of the innumerable
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: herds could be noticed. On the contrary, they throve and
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: multiplied on the rich pastures. Ever, content if all their
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: wants were satisfied, The American Indians killed only those that
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: were required for their present needs. It was not till
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: the white men visited them with his stock of glittering trinkets,
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: so attractive to the red man that he began to
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: kill indiscriminately. He l and that the white man was
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: pleased with their robes, and that the flesh of the
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: buffalo delighted his taste, that he was willing to trade
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: his trinkets for robes and flesh. It was then that
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: the indians whole demeanor toward the buffalo changed, and he
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: became the weak servant of the trader, battering the lives
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: of thousands of noble animals for valueless things which pleased
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: his eye or caught his fancy. The value of the
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: buffalo to the Indian's welfare can be shown in no
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: better way than by quoting the words of cap'n Butler.
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: Quote what shall we do? Said a young Sioux warrior
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: to an American officer on the Upper Missouri. What shall
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: we do? The buffalo is our only friend. When he goes,
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: all is over with the red man. I speak thus
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: to you, because like me, you are a brave. It
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: was little wonder that he called the buffle his only friend.
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: Its skin gave him, a house, its robe, a blanket
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: and a bed, its undressed hide, a boat, its short
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: curved horn, a powder flask, its meat, his daily food,
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: its sinew, a string for his bow, its leather, a
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: laryert for his horse, a saddle, bridle, rein and bit,
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: its tail formed, an ornament for his tent, its inner skin,
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: a book on which to sketch the brave deeds of
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: his life, the medicine, robe of his victory, house, boat, food, bed,
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: and covering every want from infancy to age, and after
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: life had passed. Wrapped in his buffalo robe, the red
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: man waited for the dawn end quote end of section fifteen.
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 7: Section sixteen of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 7: June nineteen o one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 7: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 7: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by E. Sharp.
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 7: Section sixteen. Mister Chat the Punchinello a true story. If
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 7: mister Chat were an ordinary performer, he would doubtless select
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 7: a spot in the center of the village square. He
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 7: would put up his little stage and his drop curtain,
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 7: and would send small boys all through the village with
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 7: his flaming posters. Attention every one. This afternoon in the
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 7: village square at two o'clock, mister yellow Breasted Chat will
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 7: give one of his remarkable performances. Mister Chat is acknowledged
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 7: by all to be the best imitator, the most gifted singer,
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 7: the finest elocutionist, the cleverest ventriloquist, the greatest athlete in
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 7: all birddom. Mister Chat orator, singer, gymnast, and punchin'ello. Don't
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 7: fail to see him, and by two o'clock the village
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 7: square would be alive with people, and after the show,
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 7: the dimes would rattle into the hat, and no one
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 7: would go away disappointed, as mister Chat's poster would be
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 7: nearer the truth than most posters of that kind. All
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 7: this if mister Chat were an ordinary performer, but he
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 7: he is not. His performance is so far ahead of
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 7: anything that was ever advertised on a poster that there
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 7: are not dimes enough in all the world to buy it.
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 7: You may set a day for him and invite all
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 7: your friends. Or you may take your friends and go
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 7: seek him in his own haunts. You may try to
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 7: coax higher threaten. You may do everything in your power.
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 7: But mister Chat is a happy creature of inspiration and
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 7: makes dates with nobody. When he will, he will, You
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 7: may depend on it. And when he won't, he won't,
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 7: and there's an end on it. His only tent is
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 7: the blue sky. His stage setting a jungle of trees
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 7: near a swamp, his stage a thick bough near the
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 7: top of a tree. His curtain the leaves of a
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 7: white birch or willow or butternut. His orchestra and curtain
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 7: raiser the wind, and his audience, his wife sitting patiently
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 7: on the eggs in her nest. And you, if you
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 7: belong to nature's elect and happen to be near the
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 7: swamp at that moment, and have the kind of eyes
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 7: that will really see and the kind of ears that
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 7: really hear, missus Chat can command the performance with one
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 7: little bird sigh. You could not buy it with the
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 7: wealth of the world. After the entertainment is over, mister
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 7: Chat drives his wife from the nest and takes her
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 7: place on the eggs while she flies out over the
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 7: tree tops for a little outing. Not many bird husbands
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 7: are so considerate. Once upon a time, you can see
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 7: the story is just beginning now. I happened to find
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 7: myself in a pasture, not a tame, every day green
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 7: pasture tacked on one end of a nice smooth farm,
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 7: not at all, but a pasture on top of a
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 7: high hill, with beautiful fields stretching out below it, and
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 7: all pink and white with laurel. The cows, who they
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 7: say do not care either for laurel or scenery, may
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 7: not have liked this pasture, but I did so. When
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 7: I had climbed the bars and seated myself on the
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 7: top one to view the country, I saw at the
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 7: far edge of the pasture a jungle of trees, and
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 7: I liked it still more, and determined to explore it.
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 7: On the way, I flushed a brown thrasher in a
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 7: laurel bush, and he flew into the jungle. There seemed
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 7: to be but one bird singing in all the neighborhood,
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 7: and this song, which was a peculiar one, lured me
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 7: into the thicket. On I went very cautiously till the
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 7: sound seemed to be directly overhead. I paused and listened,
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 7: and peered into the tree tops. Ha ha, cried the
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 7: bird harshly. Nothing but an old crow, said I. In disgust,
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 7: I started to go when from the same spot overhead
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 7: came a loud, clear, double note, and again I waited.
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 7: Mew mew, remarked my new friend. How stupid of me,
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 7: said I. I might have known it was mister catbird.
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 7: But immediately there came a glorious trill, first over my head,
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 7: then almost under my feet, then at my right hand,
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 7: then at my left, though there was no flutter of
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 7: wings or other sound in all the jungle. At last,
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 7: the fallen branch upon which I had been sitting gave way,
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 7: and I went into the swamp with a splash of mud.
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 7: Luk Ou look out, came a sarcastic voice from a
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 7: tree top. It is an escaped pole parrot, said I
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 7: to reassure myself, but I took out my handkerchief and
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 7: mopped my heated brow. The unknown then proceeded to bark
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 7: like a dog, quack like a duck, and squeal like
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 7: a pig, with occasionally a measure of song in between.
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 7: At last, in desperation, I seized a young sapling near
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 7: at hand and shook it with all my might, thinking
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 7: to frighten him into showing himself.
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 8: Ha ha ha.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 7: Rang out clearly from the top of the very sapling itself.
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 7: That is no bird, I announced to the swamp. It
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 7: is an imp of the forest trying to lure me
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 7: to destruction in the jungle. And I turned and fled.
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 7: I felt better when I met a cottontail rabbit, though
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 7: he did not stop to be greeted, And still better
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 7: when I reached the sunlight and the pink and white
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 7: laurel pasture. And when I neared the bars and saw
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 7: my horse grazing patiently on the other side, I was
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 7: quite myself again. On an upright stake at the side
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 7: of the bars sat a strange yellowish bird. I did
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 7: not know him, for I had not so many bird
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 7: friends then as I have now. Suddenly he rose in
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 7: the air with a shriek, his legs dangling helplessly. Is
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 7: this a magical pasture, I said to myself, where birds
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 7: are shot without the report of a gun. And then,
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 7: with legs still dangling, he made a beautiful gyration in
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 7: the air and calling out, that's it, that's it, Tut
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 7: tut tut, and disappeared in the direction of the thicket.
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 7: This was my first attendance upon one of the remarkable
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 7: performances of mister yellow breasted Chat, and I can, without
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 7: hesitation pronounce it the most wonderful in all birddom. The
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 7: next day I invited some skeptical friends to prove the
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 7: truth of my story. So at the same time of day,
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 7: we drove up the long hills till we spied the
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 7: pink and white of the laurel, and halted at the
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 7: gray bars. The pasture, which had been deserted the day before,
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 7: was now spotted with cows. The laurel had begun to fade,
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 7: and though we waited one long, weary hour, not a
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 7: sight or sound of a bird of any description did
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 7: we see. The tow he in the shore lark, whom
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 7: I had seen the day before, seemed to have dropped
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 7: out of existence, and those disagreeable people hinted that even
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 7: the brown thrasher was a myth. But as I ventured
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 7: alone into the dark swamp, still hoping to stir up
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 7: mister Chat, I came face to face with the beautiful
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 7: purple fringed orchis, the large early variety blooming alone in
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 7: the damp thicket, so straight and stately, and of such
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 7: a delicate, refined beauty, I fell on my knees beside it,
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 7: and felt it to be ample compensation for any disappointments.
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 7: So you see it is true that there is not
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 7: wealth enough in all the world to force a bird
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 7: song at the moment when you want it. But at
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 7: the same time and in the same swamp, the purple
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 7: orchis may be blooming for you. End of section sixteen.
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 9: Section seventeen of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 9: June nineteen oh one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 9: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 9: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Agit Agit
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 9: is a form of the common mineral courts from other
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 9: forms of that mineral. It differs in being made up
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 9: of minute layers and in being variegated in color. The
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 9: colors may appear in the form of bands or clouds.
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 9: The bandit age its appear to be made up of
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 9: parallel layers, sometimes straight, but more often wavy or curved
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 9: in outline. These layers or bands differ in color from
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 9: one another, exhibiting shades of white, gray, blue, yellow, red, brown,
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 9: or black. To the naked eye, they appear to vary
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 9: in width from the finest lines to a width of
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 9: a quarter of an inch or more. In reality, all
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 9: the bands visible to the naked eye are made up
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 9: of finer ones to be seen only with the microscope. Thus,
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 9: in a single inch of thickness of agate, Sir David Brewster,
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 9: using the microscope, counted seventeen thousand and fifty layers. Besides
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 9: differing in color, the layers differ in transparency and porosity,
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 9: and these properties add to the variegated appearance of the
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 9: agate on account of their beauties of color and outline.
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 9: Agots have been known in Prized from the earliest times.
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 9: They are mentioned by many of the ancient Greek writers,
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 9: and the name Agot is a corruption of the name Acades,
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 9: a river in Sicily, whence the first stones of this
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 9: kind used by the Greeks were obtained. This and neighboring
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 9: localities continued to be the source of supply until the
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 9: fifteenth century, when agots were found to occur in large
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 9: quantities near Oberstein and Edar, on the banks of the
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 9: river Naha in the Duchy of Oldenburg. The industry of
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 9: cutting and polishing the agates on a large scale was
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 9: soon established there, and these places are to this day
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 9: the center of the agate industry. The agots used most
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 9: extensively at the present time are not, however, those found
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 9: around Oberstein, but come from a region about one hundred
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 9: miles in length extending from the province of Rio Grande
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 9: de Soule of southern Brazil into northern Uruguay. The agates
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 9: in this region first discovered in eighteen twenty seven, so
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 9: surpass in size and beauty those from any other known
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 9: locality that they form at the present time almost the
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 9: only source of supply. They are shipped in large quantities
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 9: as ballast to Oberstein and dar and here the work
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 9: of cutting, polishing, and coloring them is performed. The discovery
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 9: that the attractiveness of agots could be enhanced by artificial
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 9: coloring was made about the beginning of the nineteenth century.
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 9: The natural colors are rarely of a high order, being
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 9: often only variations of white and gray or dull yellows
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 9: and reds. Through the difference of porosity of the different layers, however,
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 9: and the consequent different absorption of coloring ingredients, methods of
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 9: artificial coloring can be employed, which produce lasting and pleasing effects.
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 9: Most agate used for ornamental purposes at the present time
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 9: is therefore artificially colored agots of considerable beauty, though not
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 9: of great size, are found in many places in the
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 9: United States. Those of Agate Bay Lake Superior have rich
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 9: colors and make attractive charms and other ornaments. Agots are
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 9: found in the beds of many streams in Colorado, Montana,
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 9: and other regions of the Rocky Mountains. They occur all
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 9: along the Mississippi River, especially in Minnesota, also along the
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 9: Fox River Illinois, in the Trap Rocks along the Connecticut River,
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 9: and on the coast of California. While many of these
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 9: agots are of great beauty, their use in sail is
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 9: not likely to be anything more than local, since the
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 9: Brazilian agots can be supplied so cheaply from Germany. The
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 9: moss agots of Colorado and other localities in the Rocky
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 9: Mountains are, however, equal to anything in the world. The
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 9: layered structure of agots is due to successive depositions of
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 9: silica by water flowing through cavities and rocks, rising and
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 9: falling alternately. Through the rocks, The water leaves and mark
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 9: of each advance or retreat in the form of an
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 9: additional layer deposited upon the interior walls of the cavity.
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 9: Aggots therefore grow from the outside inward. The process may
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 9: go on until the cavity is entirely filled, or may
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 9: cease at any time. If water remains in the cavity
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 9: for some time, crystals such as are sometimes seen will
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 9: be formed. The nodule of silica or agot formed by
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 9: the percolating waters is harder and more resistant than the
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 9: surrounding rock, Hence it remains after the surrounding rock has
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 9: been worn away. We can thus understand why agots should
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 9: be found as they usually are on sea or lake
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 9: beaches or in the beds of streams. The different colors
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 9: seen in the natural agots are produced by traces of
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 9: organic matter, or of oxides of iron, manganese, or titanium
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 9: contained in the waters which form them. The beautiful moss
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 9: like inclusions seen in moss agates are due to a
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 9: partial crystallization of oxide of manganese or iron contained in
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 9: the waters. The particles of oxide in these cases arrange
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 9: themselves in aborescent forms, just as through the particles of
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 9: frost crystallizing on a window pane. Agots are not used
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 9: as extensively as they once were for ornamental purposes. In
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 9: the years eighteen forty eight to eighteen fifty agate jewelry
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 9: was very fat fable and was extensively worn. At the
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 9: present time, however, their principal use of agate and jewelry
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 9: is for breastpins and watch charms. For ornamental purposes, it
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 9: is used in penholders, knife handles, and vases. Its use
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 9: for large marbles was once quite common, but glass marbles
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 9: of the same size and still called agates, are now
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 9: generally substituted in fine mechanical work, such as bearings for
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 9: delicate instruments, and in tools for polishing and grinding. Agot
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 9: is still extensively used. Oliver Cummings Farrington end of section seventeen.
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 6: Section eighteen of Birds in Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 6: June nineteen oh one, recorded for LibriVox dot Org by Nemo.
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 6: Martyrs of the Woods? Would we miss them?
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: You and I?
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 6: Would we care? Soon? Should die every single singing bird
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 6: you and I have ever heard? Would we miss them?
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 6: From the grass, through the tangled, deep morass, from the
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 6: bushes and the trees. Robin wren and chickadees, birds of
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 6: blue and crimson wing would we miss the notes they sing?
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 6: Would we miss the call and cry chattering talk as
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 6: we go by? Nest amid the reeds and grass nests
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 6: swung high above the pass? Do we care that birds
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 6: must die? Slaughter daily as they fly, Men will kill
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 6: while people choose wings of birds to buy and use.
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 6: Soon the woods must quiet be scarce. A bird for
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 6: minstrelsy George Klingle, end of section eighteen. This recording is
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 6: in the public domain.
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 5: Section nineteen of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 5: June nineteen hundred one, recorded for librovoks dot Org by
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 5: Betty B. A pansy bed. There is ever so much
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 5: fun in a pansy bed. If you never have had one,
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 5: ask your Papa or mama to let you have one
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 5: this summer. A few dozen plants will give you much pleasure.
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 5: There are so many little faces to know among them,
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 5: and so many little family groups. Some grin at you
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 5: like monkeys, others scowl, some seem to wink, some smile shyly,
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 5: while others are curious and open eyed. There is a
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 5: white family, kately blue veined colonial dames, I call them.
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 5: There are negroes of the darkest hue Indians and those
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 5: that the sun seems to have bronzed. There are groups
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 5: of chinamen with their little yellow kids. Some are tattooed
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 5: and some have striped skin. Many wear ruffled bonnets, and
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 5: some have beards. The little clusters are so erect and
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 5: alert on a morning after a heavy dew that they
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 5: seem like families off for an outing, or school children
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 5: waiting for a snapshot. There are lovely grandmothers wearing purple
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 5: caps with white frills, and with faces, though crinkled and wrinkled,
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 5: yet full of smiles and wisdom. There are sweethearts too,
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 5: their little heads close together, and they whisper, whisper when
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 5: the wind goes by. What do you think? One day,
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 5: from out of my bowl of pansies, which I had
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 5: placed on the lunch table, skipped two frisky yellow kids.
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 5: I discovered them hand in hand, skipping away. Their little
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 5: figures were reflected in the polished surface of the table,
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 5: and they seem partners out of a Virginia reel. As
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 5: I put them back in the bowl among their elders,
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 5: I felt that I had wantonly interrupted a runaway. Watch
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 5: how the pansies love the rain, as they seem praying
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 5: for it with bent heads in dry weather, so they
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 5: seem a quiver with thanksgiving after a shower. There are
• 1:53:27
  Speaker 5: many things you can do with your pansies. First, though,
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 5: you must love them. You must teach Pussy and the
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 5: dog not to tramp over them. Every day. You must
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 5: take off all the faded flowers. You must water them
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 5: and weed them. You will enjoy gathering a bouquet daily
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 5: for the house. And if anybody is ill, Papa or Mamma,
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 5: or some one else you love, by all means, carry
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 5: them a bunch of your pansies. In midsummer, when the
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 5: fairies have pitched their tents about the sweet scented the
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 5: blossoms will become so many that if Grandpa or Grandma
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 5: has a birthday, you can gather seventy or eighty, possibly ninety,
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 5: if you need so many for a birthday gift. You
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 5: will not see the fairies about the bed, for they
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 5: come at midnight. But the dew sprinkled tents are there,
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 5: and the cluster of toadstools that the brownies like so well.
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 5: Do not forget to give some flowers to the poor
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 5: children who stand outside your gate, and who wish for
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 5: some for their very own the children who have no
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 5: garden love to look at yours. Perhaps you have an
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 5: older sister or brother who paints. If so, they may
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 5: like some of your pansies to sketch and to keep
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 5: in the house. In the winter, when your real ones
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 5: are tucked under the earth and snow, you will find
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 5: several live things in your flower bed. The bees, the butterflies,
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 5: and once in a while a humming bird. Sir Bumble.
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 5: The bee, who looks so heavy and clumsy, touches lightly
• 1:55:01
  Speaker 5: the pansies, and the pansies like to have him about,
• 1:55:04
  Speaker 5: for he is so lively and cheery, so do not
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 5: drive him away. The light yellow and the deep yellow
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 5: butterflies seem like the pansies themselves, flying off from their
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 5: stems for a journey about the country. Who knows what
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 5: the butterflies and the bees tell the flowers, or what
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 5: messages the flowers send by the flying creatures that pay
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 5: them visits. When you have pansy beds of your own,
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 5: perhaps you will be able to write me some stories,
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 5: and then perhaps you can tell me what the butterflies, bees,
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 5: and pansies talk about. Grace Marian Bryant, end of section nineteen.
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 8: Section twenty of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 8: June nineteen o one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 8: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 8: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org section twenty
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 8: the Mullin. Most of the familiar or useful plants have
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 8: had their origin or characteristics accounted for by myths or legends,
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 8: whereby the ignorant and superstitious have attempted to explain such
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 8: features as attracted their attention. Some of these ideas were
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 8: creditable to the plant, while others were quite the contrary.
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 8: The Mullen appears to have led a dual existence, seeking
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 8: an alliance with the spiritual world and at the same
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 8: time aiding and abetting the witches in their nefarious undertakings.
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 8: A very pretty story concerning the Mullin is attributed to
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 8: the American Indian, but in some regards it seems to
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 8: be a variant of the Scandinavian Tree of life myth.
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 8: It appears that the great spirit of the Red Men
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 8: lived at the top of a high tree whose branches
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 8: reached to the heavens. As no mortal could attain to
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 8: this high attitude. A spirit of the woods, in the
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 8: guise of a beautiful maiden, took pity upon the people,
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 8: and so fashioning a ladder from the stems of the
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 8: wild grape vine, she fastened it to a star, in
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 8: order that the Great Father might not be disturbed. The
• 1:57:29
  Speaker 8: fair Sylvan carpeted the steps of the latter with the
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 8: velvet leaves of the mullin, upon which she noiselessly ascended
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 8: and descended, bearing the petitions of the red men, or
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 8: bringing to them advice or admonitions. Of the one hundred
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 8: and twenty five species of mullin that are native to
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 8: the Old World, five have become naturalized in the United States.
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 8: The great mullon verbascamathapsis, so familiar in dry open fields,
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 8: was originally crist by Pliny, and has since received over
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 8: forty English names of a less classical origin and significance.
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 8: The name Verbascum is supposed to be derived from burbascum,
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 8: meaning a beard. Pliny doubtless selected this name, either because
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 8: of the hairs on the stems of the plants, or
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 8: on account of the silky character of the leaves. The
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 8: specific name Thapsis is said to have been added as
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 8: the plants grew in considerable numbers in the vicinity of thapsis.
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 8: One of the significant but impracticable common names of the
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 8: great mullin is hag taper. The plant gained this unpleasant
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 8: appellation by reason of the fact that if anyone steps
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 8: on a young mullon plant after sundown, the witches will
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 8: ride him as a horse until morning, lighting the way
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 8: with mullenstalks used for torches. These torches were also employed
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 8: at the meetings of the hags and witches, when the
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 8: leaves of the plant were an important element in the
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 8: concoctions prepared in their cauldrons. Another name is hare's beard,
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 8: illustrating a class of plants that have weird names because
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 8: of some fancied likeness to animals. The name cow's lungwort
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 8: arose from the resemblance between the leaf and the dewlap
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 8: of a cow, from which it was argued that the
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 8: plants must be a specific for lung diseases. In England,
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 8: where the mullin is known as blanket leaf, the dried
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 8: leaf is tied around the throat. In cases of colds.
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 8: It is believed that the leaf sets up a mild
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 8: irritation which will be beneficial. The dried stalks of the
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 8: plants were often used for torches at funerals, which gave
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 8: rise to the names high or hedge torch. The great
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 8: Mullon varies in height from two to seven feet. The
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 8: stem is stout, very wooly, with branching hair. The oblong,
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 8: pale green velvety leaves form a rosette on the ground
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 8: or alternately clasp the stem. The flowers, which are about
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 8: an inch in diameter, are clustered around a thick, dense
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 8: spike and have two long and three short stamens, so
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 8: arranged as to materially assist the process of cross fertilization,
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 8: which is largely carried on by bees. It is interesting
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 8: to note, in connection with the thick, wooly covering of
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 8: the plant, that many vegetable forms are so protected when
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 8: exposed to intense heat or cold. This is true of
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 8: most alpine and desert forms, and the value of such
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 8: a protection to the Mullin will be seen when it
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 8: is remembered that the plants are always found in open, dry,
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 8: stony fields, exposed to the fierce heat of the sun,
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 8: and afforded no protection for the rosettes of year old plants,
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 8: which must survive the winter in order to send up
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 8: the flower stalk the second spring. The moth mullin verbascum
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 8: blataria is a far more attractive and graceful plant than
• 2:01:15
  Speaker 8: the form previously described. The specific name was derived from
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 8: the idea that the plant would kill the cockroach blatta.
• 2:01:24
  Speaker 8: It was supposed that moths would not go near the plant,
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 8: and it was quite a general custom in New England
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 8: to pack these plants or flowers with clothing or furs
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 8: in order to keep out moths. The stamens are similar
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 8: to those of the great mullin, except the filaments are
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 8: tufted with violet hairs. The flowers are yellow or white
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 8: on long, loose racemes. The erect, slender stem is usually
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 8: about two feet in height, and as a rule there
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 8: are no leaves present at the flowering time. Charles S. Raddon,
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 8: end of section twenty The Mullen recording by Mackenzie Nicole Greenwood.
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 6: Section twenty one of Birds in Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 6: June nineteen o one, Recorded for LibriVox dot Org by Nemo.
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 6: The Call of the Partridge. The fields are wet. The
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 6: fields are green. All things are glad and growing, and
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 6: fresh and cool. Across the pool, the gentle wind is blowing,
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 6: though humid clouds yet fill the sky. The rain has
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 6: ceased its falling. And from his rail across the swale,
• 2:02:52
  Speaker 6: I hear the partridge calling, the spotted partridge calling through
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 6: the silence, not an note his listening ears greeting. But here,
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 6: oh hear how loud and clear his call? He is repeating,
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 6: what pleading lingers in his tone, what tenderness revealing, Oh,
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 6: soft and sweet? To cross the wheat? A timid answers
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 6: stealing the timid answers stealing Bell Hitchcock. End of section
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 6: twenty one. This recording is in the public domain.
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 7: Section twenty two of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 7: June nineteen oh one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 7: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 7: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by E. Sharp,
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 7: Section twenty two Jim Crow and his Cousins. While much
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 7: can be said about the beauty and grace of birds
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 7: of brilliant plumage and those of soul stirring song, there
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 7: is as much to be written concerning those noted for
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 7: their sagacity and cunning. Some have selected the parrot as
• 2:04:24
  Speaker 7: the model in this particular, and the choice is not
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 7: a mistake. There is, however, a tribe which all may observe,
• 2:04:33
  Speaker 7: more or less, while a story relating to their habits
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 7: or pranks will ever find willing listeners. The crow is
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 7: the best known of this genus, and grouped with him
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 7: are the chuff, the raven, the rook, and the jack daw.
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 7: All of these may be tamed, and afterward may be
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 7: taught to use the language of man. The plumage of
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 7: the crow in the northern parts of the world is black,
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 7: and we are so accustomed to that color that to
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 7: speak of a white or of a spotted crow might
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 7: subject one to ridicule. Yet in many parts of the
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 7: world such crows are found. Some are gray and black,
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 7: and some species are larger than others. They are characterized
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 7: by a comparatively short tail, long wings, and a strong,
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 7: rather conical beak. Crows are distinguished from ravens by their
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 7: smaller size and by the feathers of the neck blending
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 7: with those of the body, while on the ravens, the
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 7: neck feathers are pointed and distinct. The crow family is
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 7: widely distributed, but crows, as properly understood, are mainly inhabitants
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 7: of the north temperate zone. They are intelligent, wary birds
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 7: when persecuted, and are practically omnivorous, feeding upon fish, fowl, eggs, snakes, frogs, crabs, shellfish, grubs, fruits, seeds,
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 7: and berries. The common crow of North America is particularly
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 7: abundant in the Eastern United States and is looked upon
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 7: as the inveterate foe of the farmer on account of
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 7: the amount of injury he inflicts on growing crops, and
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 7: especially upon corn. There is, however, a credit side to
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 7: the account in the destruction of grubs. But as the
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 7: crow is by nature such a pilferer, he must be
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 7: regarded as harmful in many ways. In the fall and winter,
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 7: these glossy birds assemble by thousands in great roosts or rookeries.
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 7: One of these roosts, on the Potomac above Washington has
• 2:06:50
  Speaker 7: been estimated to harbor forty thousand crows, while others are
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 7: still larger. In the gray of the morning, the birds
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 7: leave in clamoring crowds for their feeding grounds. Often many
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 7: miles away, and in the afternoon may be seen winging
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 7: their way homeward in long lines high above the earth
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 7: and fair weather low down. In fowl, the Eastern fish crow,
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 7: frequently found in company with the others, is a smaller
• 2:07:20
  Speaker 7: bird and can be readily distinguished by its horse saw.
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 7: The carrion crow of Europe and Asia closely resembles the
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 7: North American crow in form size and habits, but is
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 7: perhaps a little more destructive, attacking and killing lambs or
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 7: even weakly sheep. The hooded crow, found in northern and
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 7: eastern Europe and in many parts of Asia, is gray
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 7: with black head, throat, wings and tail. The gray necked
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 7: crow of India is a small, but bold and mischievous species,
• 2:07:58
  Speaker 7: often stealing the very food from the table. On the
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 7: other hand, it does much good as a scavenger, forming
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 7: an able adjunct to the vultures in this respect. An
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 7: interesting story is told of a crow of this species
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 7: which had been tamed and petted until it behaved much
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 7: as would a spoiled child. Old Crusty, as he was called,
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 7: would actually take the food away from the dog while
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 7: he was eating, not by open encounter, for that would
• 2:08:31
  Speaker 7: have deprived him of his fun, but he would tease
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 7: the poor canine until he barked from vexation, then snatch
• 2:08:39
  Speaker 7: up the prey and triumphantly bear it off to a
• 2:08:42
  Speaker 7: neighboring tree, where he ate it at his leisure, while
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 7: the dog stood looking at him and uselessly venting his
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 7: rage in loud, threatening barks. The annual muster of the crows,
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 7: like that of blackbirds, is a scene very amusing as
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 7: well as mysterious. It has been my privilege to witness
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 7: a few such gatherings, but to me there seemed more
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 7: noise than meaning. It is said by naturalists, however, that
• 2:09:14
  Speaker 7: the most extraordinary meetings of the crows occur in northern Scotland.
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 7: There they collect in great numbers, as if they had
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 7: all been summoned for the occasion. A few of the
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 7: flock sit with drooping heads, and others seem grave as judges,
• 2:09:32
  Speaker 7: while others, again are exceedingly active and noisy. One authority
• 2:09:37
  Speaker 7: says these meetings will sometimes continue for a day or
• 2:09:42
  Speaker 7: so before the object, whatever it may be, is completed.
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 7: Crows continue to arrive from all quarters during the session.
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 7: As soon as all have arrived, a very general noise ensues,
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 7: and shortly after the whole fall upon one or two
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 7: individuals and put them to death. When the execution has
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 7: been performed, they quietly disperse. The chuff is a red
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 7: legged crow and is one of the most mischievous birds
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 7: of his genus. He carefully examines everything he finds, then
• 2:10:20
  Speaker 7: carries it away if he can, and if there be
• 2:10:23
  Speaker 7: a collection of anything to which he has access, he
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 7: is sure to scatter it in all directions. Those which
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 7: have been converted into pets have proven very affectionate, but
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 7: they are easily offended and will often vent their spite
• 2:10:40
  Speaker 7: in a most annoying yet very amusing manner. The raven
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 7: is very much like the crow in his habits, but
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 7: is more given to fighting and to burglary than his
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 7: shy cousin. He is a great tease also, and will
• 2:10:55
  Speaker 7: often attack children and even grown up people just for fun.
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 7: By this, it can be seen that the raven is
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 7: more susceptible to taming than the crow. While no old
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 7: crow can steal so many articles or hide them as
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 7: completely as the raven. They are quick to make friends
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 7: with dog or man, but like the chough, are very
• 2:11:19
  Speaker 7: troublesome foes. Once offended. The rook is a European bird,
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 7: and though the farmer recognizes in him a destroyer of
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 7: his young crops, he must admit that without the rook
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 7: he would save little or none of his crop. Worms
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 7: constitute the favorite food of this bird. Wherefore, many a
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 7: husbandman has learned that it is best to endure the
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 7: disadvantages of a rookery merely for the sake of his harvests.
• 2:11:48
  Speaker 7: For one queer habit of rooks is that they will
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 7: frequent the same spot all their lives, and it is
• 2:11:55
  Speaker 7: next to impossible to dislodge them from their abode. The
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 7: jackdaws are the boldest of the genus and have a
• 2:12:03
  Speaker 7: very remarkable don't care look. They frequent high towers, hollow trees, and,
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 7: even appropriate to their own use, the loftiest parts of
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 7: the English castles. They choose their mates for life and
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 7: do not live in communities. They assemble in flocks, however,
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 7: when cherries begin to ripen and will soon rob a
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 7: tree if the owner is not on guard. An amusing
• 2:12:30
  Speaker 7: story is told of a tame jackdaw. While pilfering one day,
• 2:12:35
  Speaker 7: he found a half glass of whisky which had been
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 7: left upon a table, and on tasting it, he liked
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 7: it so much that he drank a quantity. In a
• 2:12:46
  Speaker 7: few moments, symptoms of intoxication began to appear. His wings
• 2:12:51
  Speaker 7: dropped and his eyes were half closed. He staggered toward
• 2:12:56
  Speaker 7: the end of the table, probably intending to fly to
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 7: the floor, but he had either lost the power of
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 7: his wings or he was afraid to trust them. He
• 2:13:07
  Speaker 7: stood seemingly meditating on what he should do, all the
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 7: while reeling like a drunken man about to lose his balance. Presently,
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 7: his eyes were shut and he fell over on his back,
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 7: with his legs in the air, exhibiting every sign of death.
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 7: An attempt was made to put some water down his throat,
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 7: but he could not swallow it. He was then rolled
• 2:13:32
  Speaker 7: in a piece of flannel, laid in a box, and
• 2:13:35
  Speaker 7: locked away in a closet. All the family, with whom
• 2:13:39
  Speaker 7: he was a great pet, never expected to see him
• 2:13:42
  Speaker 7: on his legs again. Next morning, about six o'clock, the
• 2:13:46
  Speaker 7: door was opened with the expectation of finding Jacky dead,
• 2:13:51
  Speaker 7: But he had freed himself from the flannel, and as
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 7: soon as the door was open, he flew out and
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 7: hurried away to a basin shaped stone, out of which
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 7: the fowls drank and copiously allayed his thirst. He repeated
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 7: this several times that day, and was none the worse
• 2:14:09
  Speaker 7: for his exploit, but with more forbearance than those who
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 7: are endowed with reason, he never again would touch whiskey.
• 2:14:20
  Speaker 7: End of section twenty two.
• 2:14:28
  Speaker 10: Section twenty three of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one,
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 10: June nineteen o one. This is a liprivox recording. All
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  Speaker 10: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 10: or to volunteer, please visit liprivox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 10: Avay in December twenty seventeen. Koco Teobroma cacao l the
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  Speaker 10: wretch shell field, the giddy motion of the whirling mill
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  Speaker 10: in fumes of burning chocolate shell glow and tremble at
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  Speaker 10: the sea that froths below. Pope Rape of the lock
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  Speaker 10: two one hundred thirty five. The cocoa yielding plant is
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  Speaker 10: a tree, varying from fifteen to forty feet in height.
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  Speaker 10: The main stem or trunk is much twisted and knotty,
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  Speaker 10: from which the branches stand out almost horizontally. The bark
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  Speaker 10: is thick, rough, and of a cinnamon brown color. The
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  Speaker 10: leaves are alternate large, smooth, entire and of a deep
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  Speaker 10: green color. Flowers occur singly, more usually in clusters from
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  Speaker 10: those parts of the branches and trunk formerly corresponding to
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  Speaker 10: the axils of leaves, calix deeply five cleft, pale red petals,
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  Speaker 10: pink fruit, solitary, or several together pendulous, light large, pear
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  Speaker 10: shaped each pericarp enclosing numerous brown seeds about the size
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  Speaker 10: of a hickory nut or almond, from which the chocolate
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  Speaker 10: and cocoa are made. The chocolate tree is a native
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  Speaker 10: of Mexico, Central America, Brazil, and other South American countries.
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  Speaker 10: It is now extensively cultivated in most tropical countries of
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  Speaker 10: both hemispheres. The West Indian Islands have numerous large plantations.
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  Speaker 10: It is also found in botanic gardens and greenhouses. There
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  Speaker 10: are several cultivation varieties. The cocoa or cacao yielding plant
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  Speaker 10: must not be confounded with the coconut palm or the
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  Speaker 10: coca yielding plant, which has already been described. The natives
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  Speaker 10: of Mexico used cocoa before the discovery of America by Columbus.
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  Speaker 10: The Toltecs cultivated the plant centuries before they were finally
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  Speaker 10: conquered by the more power and more progressive Azztecs. In
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  Speaker 10: thirteen twenty five, Cortez and Fernandez, in their letters to
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  Speaker 10: Charles the Fifth of Spain, referred to the cultivation of
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  Speaker 10: cocoa by the Mexicans, who used the seeds not only
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  Speaker 10: as a food but also as a medium of marter
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  Speaker 10: and exchange. It was apparently the only medium excepted in
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  Speaker 10: the payment of provincial taxes. Humboldt states that cocoa was
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  Speaker 10: similarly employed in Costa Rica and other Central American countries.
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  Speaker 10: In remote times, cocoa was somewhat differently prepared from what
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  Speaker 10: it is at the present time. The roast did and
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  Speaker 10: hulled seeds were coarsely pulverized in a stone mortar, strongly
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  Speaker 10: spiced by means of vanilla and other spices, boiled in water,
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  Speaker 10: and when cold, stirred to a frothy semi liquid in
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  Speaker 10: cold water, and eaten cold. The word chocolate is said
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  Speaker 10: to be derived from the Aztec chocolatloca frothy and uttle water.
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  Speaker 10: Through Cortes and others, who lauded very highly the value
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  Speaker 10: of coco as a nourishing food for those going on
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  Speaker 10: long journeys. It soon became widely known. In fifteen twenty,
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  Speaker 10: considerable quantities of it pressed into cakes were shipped to Spain.
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  Speaker 10: Remarkable as it may seem, it stated that the Brazilians
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  Speaker 10: learned the use of coco from the Spaniards. The noted
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  Speaker 10: Italian traveler Calletti fifteen ninety seven to sixteen o six
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  Speaker 10: introduced the use and preparation of coco into his native city, Florence.
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  Speaker 10: Not all Europeans gave favorable reports concerning the use of coco.
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  Speaker 10: Clusius states that it was more suited to hogs than
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  Speaker 10: human beings. Acosta stated that the drink had a nauseous
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  Speaker 10: aspect and caused heart troubles. Coco was introduced into France
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  Speaker 10: about sixteen fifteen, England about sixteen in sixty seven, Germany
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  Speaker 10: about sixteen seventy nine. Somewhat later, chocolate houses were established
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  Speaker 10: in various cities of Europe. William Hombwerg, a chemist of Paris,
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  Speaker 10: extracted the fat from cocoa as early as sixteen ninety five,
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  Speaker 10: and Quelus seventeen nineteen recommended its use as a salve
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  Speaker 10: and as an article of diet. The fruit of the
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  Speaker 10: wild growing plants is small and the seeds exceedingly bitter.
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  Speaker 10: Hence the cultivated cocoa is preferred. The seeds are preparated
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  Speaker 10: in two ways, fermented and unfermented. In the former, the
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  Speaker 10: seeds are placed in heaps and holes in the earth
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  Speaker 10: in boxes or barrels covered with leaves. In the course
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  Speaker 10: of four or five days, they begin to sweat or
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  Speaker 10: undergo a mild form of fermentation. During this time, the
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  Speaker 10: seeds must be stirred about occasionally. At the close of
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  Speaker 10: the sweating process, most of the bitternesses gone and they
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  Speaker 10: have lost about one half in weight. Afterwards, the seeds
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  Speaker 10: are rapidly dried in the sun or in ovens. The
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  Speaker 10: fully dried seeds have a rich brown color. The following
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  Speaker 10: are the more important marked varieties of fermented cocoa. One
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  Speaker 10: Mexican or Soconusco cocoa seeds rather small, delicate flavor, and
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  Speaker 10: of a golden yellow color. Since Mexico does not produce
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  Speaker 10: sufficient cocoa for home consumption, this variety is rarely exported.
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  Speaker 10: This and the following varieties are said to be derived
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  Speaker 10: from theobroma bicolor, theobroma angustifolium, and theobroma of aalifolium. Two
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  Speaker 10: Esmeralda cocoa similar to the Mexican somewhat darker in color.
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  Speaker 10: Three Guatemala cocoa seeds large with mild flavor. Four Caracas
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  Speaker 10: cocoa from Venezuela color pale brown with a mild agreeable flavor,
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  Speaker 10: usually coated with a film of soil due to their
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  Speaker 10: being buried in the earth during the sweating process. A
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  Speaker 10: very highly priced variety. Five Guayaquil cocoa from Ecuador seeds flattened,
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  Speaker 10: somewhat wedge shaped, wrinkled, reddish brown, and excellent variety. Six
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  Speaker 10: Burbis cocoa from British Guiana. Seeds small, externally gray, internally
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  Speaker 10: reddish brown. Seven Surinam and Esequibo cocoa seeds rather large
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  Speaker 10: and more firm externally a loamy gray, internally deep reddish
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  Speaker 10: brown taste somewhat bitter. The unfermented cocoa, also known as
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  Speaker 10: sun cocoa and island cocoa, is dried rapidly without fermenting.
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  Speaker 10: It is of a beautiful reddish brown color and a
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  Speaker 10: bitter astringent taste. The following are the principal varieties. One
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  Speaker 10: Brazilian para Bahia coco seeds smooth, wedge shaped, flattened, one
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  Speaker 10: edge nearly straight, the other convex. Two Cayenne coco quite hard,
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  Speaker 10: externally grayish brown, internally purplish red. Three untils. Cocoa island cocoa.
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  Speaker 10: Of this there are the following varieties. A Trinidad cocoa
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  Speaker 10: with large, flat, almost black brown seeds. B. Martinique cocoa
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  Speaker 10: with elongated, flattened reddish brown seeds. C. Saint Domingo cocoa
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  Speaker 10: with small, flattened, dark purplish brown seeds. Coco requires considerable
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  Speaker 10: care in cultivation. A moist atmosphere and uniform temperature of
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  Speaker 10: about twenty four to twenty eight degrees celsius with considerable
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  Speaker 10: shade is best suited. The tall variety of banana and
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  Speaker 10: a treelike Erythrina corallodendron are the more common shade plants.
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  Speaker 10: The plants are grown from seeds which begin to germinate
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  Speaker 10: in eight days. The seeds begin to bear fruit in
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  Speaker 10: about four years. More usually eight to ten years elapse
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  Speaker 10: before any considerable fruit is born. Two crops are collected annually.
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  Speaker 10: It is stated that there is on average only one
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  Speaker 10: fruit to every three thousand flowers. Chocolate and cocoa are
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  Speaker 10: prepared by roasting the seeds, removing the husks, and crushing
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  Speaker 10: between hot rollers, which liquefies the solid fat and forms
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  Speaker 10: a paste. To make chocolate, sugar is added and flavored
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  Speaker 10: with vanilla and cinnamon. Sometimes a coloring substance is added.
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  Speaker 10: The paste is finely molded into cakes, varying in size
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  Speaker 10: and form. Chocolate is frequently adulterated with lard, starches, rice flour,
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  Speaker 10: and other substances. Cheap grates are usually flavored with sassafras, nuts, cloves,
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  Speaker 10: and other spices. In the manufacture of cocoa, husks are
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  Speaker 10: usually included and mixed with a variable quantity of sugar, starch,
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  Speaker 10: flavoring substances, et cetera. The roasted, hulled, and coarsely broken
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  Speaker 10: seeds are known as cocoa nibs, and this is the
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  Speaker 10: purest kind of cocoa. The powder made from the seeds
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  Speaker 10: after the oil has been thoroughly expressed, is known as broma.
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  Speaker 10: The seeds contain about fifty percent of fat. In the
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  Speaker 10: manufacture of broma and common cocoa, most of this is
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  Speaker 10: removed and is placed upon the market as cocoa butter.
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  Speaker 10: The more or less broken hulls are sold as cocoa shells,
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  Speaker 10: from which a chocolate like drink is made by boiling
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  Speaker 10: in water and sweetening with sugar. There is perhaps no
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  Speaker 10: food substance which is more universally liked than chocolate. Mothers
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  Speaker 10: have no small amount of trouble in hiding the household
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  Speaker 10: chocolate from the children. With the omnipresent penny in the
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  Speaker 10: slant machine. More pennies are credited to it than to
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  Speaker 10: the chewing gum. The housewife and baker use it very
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  Speaker 10: extensively with chocolate cake. The confectioner uses it very freely,
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  Speaker 10: to the great delight of children. The principal used to
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  Speaker 10: which cocoa is put is in the preparation of a beverage.
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  Speaker 10: For this purpose, enormous quantity of chocolate, cocoa, broma, and
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  Speaker 10: hulls are consumed annually. The word theobroma is derived from
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  Speaker 10: the Greek meaning drink. For the Gauds, the drink is
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  Speaker 10: prepared by thoroughly tricherating the desired amount of chocolate, cocoa
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  Speaker 10: or broma with a small quantity of water, then stirring
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  Speaker 10: this into the necessary quantity of boiling milk or water
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  Speaker 10: and boiling for a few minutes with constant stirring. The
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  Speaker 10: oil present gives the drink great nutritive value. It is
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  Speaker 10: also slightly stimulating owing to the presence of an alkaloid, theobromine,
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  Speaker 10: which is closely similar in its properties to thiine and caffeine,
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  Speaker 10: the active constituents of tea and coffee. The drink does
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  Speaker 10: not agree with some individuals because the large amount of
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  Speaker 10: oil present causes indigestion. It is also highly probable that
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  Speaker 10: the indigestion or dyspepsia is due to the minute fragments
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  Speaker 10: of roasted cell walls of the seeds, which are not
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  Speaker 10: only indigestible but irritate the secreting mucous cells lining the
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  Speaker 10: inner surface of the stomach. Cocoa butter, which resembles tallow
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  Speaker 10: in consistency and appearance, is used in medical and pharmaceutical
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  Speaker 10: practice as a salve or made for external application in
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  Speaker 10: eruptive diseases as scarlet fever, et cetera. Coco also finds
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  Speaker 10: extensive use in medical practice, though it has no marked
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  Speaker 10: curative properties. Coco from which the oil has been thoroughly
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  Speaker 10: expressed broma makes an excellent drink for convalescence. It is
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  Speaker 10: used to disguise the taste of disagreeable medicines, et cetera.
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  Speaker 10: Albert Schneider end of section twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: Section twenty four of Birds and Nature Volume ten, number one,
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  Speaker 1: June nineteen hundred and one, Recorded for LibriVox dot Org
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  Speaker 1: by Tavarsh. The canoe birch like polished marble, their tall
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  Speaker 1: shafts gleam beside some beautiful inland stream, and their heart
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  Speaker 1: shaped leaves in autumn's prime were the golden tints of
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  Speaker 1: a fairer climb. As I touched the bark, white as
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  Speaker 1: driven snow, I dream of the seasons long ago when
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  Speaker 1: the red man paddled his light canoe, where the canopied
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  Speaker 1: birches pierced the blue George Bancroft Griffith end of section
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  Speaker 1: twenty four. This recording is in the public domain. End
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  Speaker 1: of Birds and Nature, Volume ten, number one, June nineteen
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  Speaker 1: hundred and one.