big, thick body, the furry coat, the fancy feelers, the hook for his
wings. He is the flyer that rests with his wings laid open and flat, or
laid close down along the sides of his body, like a cloak.
The moth often flies by day. He has lovely, painted wings, but they do
not _gleam_ as do those of the butterfly.
“I do not want to hear about moths,” said a little girl; “I know all
about _them_. I kill all I can see. I killed a big, white one, last
night. They do so much harm. They ate up my mother’s best muff!”
“And did you kill the tiny, silvery-looking moth, which was flying
close to the carpet? He is a little fellow, who when he lights, is
folded into a roll, not so long as the nail of your little finger.”
“No,” says the little girl; “he is too little to do any harm. I let him
alone.”
“Alas! my child. How easy it is, in this world, to be mistaken! How
often the innocent suffer for the guilty! That silent, white creature,
looking like the ghost of a lily, never has done any harm. That little
silver roll is the meddler, who, in his early days, ate up your
mother’s muff! Come, I see you know nothing about moths.”
As we sat on the porch, last night, some one said, “Who ever before
saw a humming-bird flying at night? There is one now, at the
honey-suckles.” No! it was not a humming-bird, but a large hawk-moth.
He hung poised on his quivering wings, unrolled his long trunk, thrust
it deep into a flower, and drank honey.
It was hard to distinguish him from a humming-bird. Then, as he dashed
across a moonlit space, he looked like the swallows we had watched at
sunset.
The hawk-moths are large, with large furry bodies. They have a swift,
bird-like flight. One of the largest is called the “death’s head.” He
is furry, even to his wings and legs. On his shoulders he has black and
white marks, like a skull.
The caterpillar of this moth is the largest of caterpillars. It is four
inches long, and as thick as a man’s finger. Its color is green, gray,
and yellow, with black dots. It lives on potato-vines. It has bluish
stripes on the sides.
If you find one, you can raise a moth from it. You must keep it in
a dark place, give it potato leaves to eat, and some moist earth to
burrow in. For this caterpillar hides in the ground, to spend his pupa
days. The pupa case looks, I think, much like a sea-shell.
A queer thing about this moth is, that it can squeak. If you touch its
feet, with a bit of stick, it seems angry. It crouches down, and gives
a squeak. No one knows how it makes this noise.
Another curious moth is the wasp moth. It is a day-flyer. It loves the
hottest noons. It does not look much like a moth. It looks like a wasp,
or hornet. Its body is slim, and has yellow and black bands. Its wings
have very few scales. The wings are thin and clear, like those of a
wasp.
These wasp moths live about trees and shrubs. They lay their eggs under
the bark.
The caterpillars are able to eat wood. They gnaw the wood for food, and
so dig their way into the trees, and live there. When they have eaten
all they want, they have made a nice little hole in the tree. They
line it with silk. Then they fall asleep in their pupa state.
When they are ready to come out, they do not leave their hard pupa case
in the tree. They need it to protect their wings, as they creep out.
When they get to the door of the hole, they pull their bodies out of
the case. Then they fly off, and leave the pupa case sticking in the
hole.
The most useful moth, one worth all the rest, is the bombyx. He made
your mother’s silk dress, and your hair ribbon. “What!” Well, did you
never hear of the silk-worm? The silk-worm is the caterpillar of a moth.
This is a dull, plain, little insect. Its trunk is very short, in fact,
it is almost gone, for this moth never eats. It is very short-lived.
All it lives for is to lay a great many hundred eggs.
These eggs are laid on mulberry trees. The caterpillar soon hatches
from the egg. It is a small, homely thing. It eats much during thirty
days. In one thing it is different from all other caterpillars. It
has a much better silk-spinner in its head. It makes a great deal of
strong, yellow silk. Its body seems full of the sticky stuff, which,
when it is drawn out, hardens into silk.
Of this silk the caterpillar spins its cocoon. It spins hundreds of
yards of fine, silk thread. Then it wraps itself in a cocoon and casts
off its caterpillar skin. If left alone in the cocoon, it eats its way
out, when it has become a full-grown moth.
You must ask your mother or teacher to tell you how this ball of silk
is turned into ribbons and dresses.
From the moth which makes silk for our clothes, let us turn to the moth
which eats up our fur and woollen clothes. The name of this little
plague is _Tinea_. You might as well call him _tiny_, for he is the
least of all moths. He looks as harmless as possible.
He is a mere little silvery, fringy roll, hiding in shady places, or
flitting low and silently on his little gray wings.
But little Mrs. Tiny, whose name _tinea_ means that she is a spoiler of
things, lays hundreds of eggs. She hides her eggs in carpets, curtains,
furniture, and clothes. As soon as the little caterpillar is out of the
egg, it proceeds to gnaw what it is lying on.
This small creature bites and pulls out hairs, or threads, and weaves
for itself a nice little rainbow case. As it grows larger, it builds
more case with more threads. As these hairs or threads are stolen out
of our best things, soon we find great holes in our coats and gowns.
Shake the clothes, and out fall hundreds of little larvæ, or wee
caterpillars. When the case is all finished the caterpillar likes to
hang it up by the closed end. Then he hangs in it head downward, as a
pupa. The case looks like a little roll of dust and fuzz. But the fuzzy
end is the head of little _tinea_, living out his pupa days.
LESSON XXVII.
THE CHILD OF THE NIGHT.
I suppose you have seen great cobweb-like nests, hanging on plum,
cherry, and apple trees. You have heard them called “worm nests.” You
have seen that they are full of brown caterpillars, about an inch long.
If you had looked at the twigs of these trees, just after the leaves
fall in the autumn, you might have thought some fairy had been putting
belts and bracelets upon them. Around the twigs were little even bands
of beads. These beads were the eggs of a moth.
As soon as the caterpillars come out of these eggs, they unite in
spinning their large silken nests, or tents. There they live together,
until they have grown to nearly full size. Then they bite holes in the
nest and travel off, each its own way.
When the caterpillar is full-grown, it spins a nice, thin, clear
cocoon, and powders it all over with yellow dust.
When the moth comes out, it has yellowish wings with brown bands. It
appears in July, and at once goes off to the orchards. There, in the
autumn, it lays its eggs in rings around the twigs. This moth rests
with its wings folded against its body like a cloak. Many moths fold
their wings cloak-wise, instead of spreading them out flat, when they
rest.
There is a very beautiful large moth, which has a curious caterpillar,
about which I must tell you. Whenever this caterpillar changes his
skin, he puts on a new color. At first he is black, and so hairy that
he looks like a little hedgehog. His next skin is a gray-green, with
jet-black hairs and dots. The third skin is light green, with five rows
of black dots, a number of clear, yellow spots, and two splendid red
spots, like buttons.
The fourth coat is blue, with black and red buttons. Then his last coat
is green, with orange buttons. He now spins a cocoon. It is double. The
outside is tough and skin-like. The inner part is of softest silk.
This caterpillar is found in the south.
I should like you to see the caterpillars of the sphinx moth eating.
This moth gets its name from an odd way the caterpillar has of resting.
It lifts up about half of its body, and holds it stiff, and quite
still. People think it looks like a great stone image in Egypt called
the sphinx.
The sphinx moth lays its eggs on the top sprays of a weed called
the spurge. This weed has a milky juice. The seed grows in a little
nut-like pod or case. The caterpillar of the sphinx hatches from the
egg among the tender green top leaves. These will make its food. At
once it begins to eat. It grows fast. As it is greedy, and likes
spurge, it eats up all the plant but the roots.
The caterpillar eats the plant from the top down. When it comes to a
seed pod it seems to say, “Now for a treat!” It sits up in its funny
way, and takes a seed case between its front feet, as a monkey would
hold a nut in its paws. It holds the pod against its mouth with its
front feet, and gnaws away at it, until it is all gone.
When one plant is stripped bare, off the caterpillars go to another.
There they begin at the lower leaves, and eat upward. The lower leaves
are coarse and hard. Why do they eat them? Why do they not climb up
for better leaves?
Do you not see the wisdom of this habit, which has been fixed in these
little creatures? If they climbed up, and ate the top leaves, their
little brothers up there would have nothing to eat when they came from
the egg. Then they would starve.
If you poke one of these caterpillars, while it is eating, it seems to
be very angry. It spits out a quantity of green, ill-smelling juice.
But the sphinx caterpillars are pretty, if they have not very good
manners. They are black, or dark green, with crimson lines like ribbons
on them. They are dotted all over with spots like pearls.
They are full-grown in July. Then they creep into the ground for
their pupa state. They lie there, shut up in shell-like cases. In a
few weeks, out come the moths. Very early in the day, or late in the
afternoon, you may see them flying about honey-bearing plants.
This moth is very pretty. It has large wings of a rose color, with
black and green wavy bands. There are two broods of them each season.
The caterpillars come in June and September. At the end of September,
the last brood of caterpillars hides in the ground to spend the winter
in the pupa state.
All moths that fly in the evening are attracted by light. If you wish
to see what very beautiful creatures they are, set some plates on a
table around a bright light. Have some glasses ready, and open the
window, or outside door. You will do well to have some ether and some
cotton wool.
In come the moths! As they blunder about the light, it is easy to catch
them gently, and put them on a plate under a glass. Then put in a bit
of wool wet with ether, and they will soon be dead. Or, you can look
at them awhile, and then let them go. If a moth falls on the velvet or
woollen table-cover, you will see the cloth covered with gold dust.
These tiny dust grains are his scales.
You will wonder at the beauty of these insects. They have silver and
gold gleams. Even the smallest are lovely. Many of them are dressed in
pea-green and silver, or rose-pink, with red, black, and brown lines,
and fringes. Some are lemon or orange color. I have found very lovely
little moths, clinging to the window panes, early in the morning.
The moths of tropic lands are very large, and very splendid in their
colors. I do not think they are prettier than many of those in our own
land. Our moon moth has long tails, even longer and more curved than
those of the swallow-tail butterfly. It is of a delicate cream color,
with pink spots.
Now, I will tell you how to catch night-flying moths, if you wish to
make a collection. But do not take more than one or two of a kind. It
is cruel to waste life.
A collection of moths is hard to keep, their bodies are so soft and
large.
If you wish to catch night moths, take some brown sugar and boil it to
a thick syrup. Put in it some peppermint, or rose water, or vanilla, to
make it smell nice. Soak some white rags in it. Then lay the rags in
a bowl. Put plenty of pins on your sleeve. Have some boxes to put the
moths in, and some ether to kill them.
You should have your _net_ also. You know a net to catch insects is a
bag of lace, or fine netting, sewed on a hoop with a handle. You need a
short handle in the night-moth net.
Go to a clump of trees, and pin the sugared rags on the trunks. When
you have pinned on all you wish, turn about, and go to the trees where
you put the rags. Have your lantern also. You will see dozens of moths
feasting on the sugar in the rags. You can catch as many as you like,
and put them in your boxes.
LESSON XXVIII.
THE BIRD.
[Illustration: ON THE WING.]
A bird is an animal which comes from an egg, wears feathers, and is
built for flying. Even the few birds which run, and do not fly, are all
built on the general plan of flyers.
An egg was described in lesson seven of this book. All of you have
seen plenty of eggs. The eggs of birds are usually hatched by the
mother-bird sitting upon them for a certain number of days, or weeks,
and keeping them warm with her body. Some few birds, as the ostrich,
hide their eggs in the sand to be hatched by sun heat. One or two other
kinds of birds hide their eggs in earth or leaves.
I shall tell you of only a few things about the bird’s body. I wish to
tell you just enough about birds to interest you, so that you will try
to learn more about them.
The first thing for you to notice about the body of the bird is, that
it is built for lightness. The bones are thin, and most of them are
hollow. Your bones, and the bones of four-legged animals, are either
solid, or hollow and filled in the centre with marrow. But the bird’s
bones are made to give it the greatest possible size, with the least
possible weight.
Not only are the bird’s bones hollow, but it is able to send warm air
from its lungs through them. Thus they not only do not weigh the bird
down, but really help to keep it up in the air.
The bird has more bones in its neck than men or beasts have. The bird’s
neck is long, and bends easily. Its head and neck divide the air before
it as it flies. Even birds which look short-necked have really more
bones in the back of the neck than you have. They owe the short look to
the feathers.
The body of the bird is built on the _boat plan_. It is an air-boat.
Its breast-bone serves as a keel. It is placed low down, and is large
and sharp. In very strong, flying birds, as the eagle, this keel is
very large. To this are fastened the many strong muscles which move the
wings. The few birds which do not fly, as the ostrich and penguin, have
the breast-bone flattened or “raft-shape.”
The ribs of the bird form a large, light, boat-shaped frame. Its tail
is made of a number of backbone pieces, crowded close together. This
tail moves easily, and serves the bird as a rudder, to steer and steady
its way through the air.
If you strip all the meat off a chicken’s wing-bones, you will see a
kind of a rude pattern of a man’s arm and hand, with a thumb and two
fingers. The length of the wing usually depends on the length of the
upper wing-bone. But in humming-birds and swifts, the lower part of the
wing is the longer.
In some birds, the wing, when spread out, is much longer than all the
body. The wing folds up, something like a crab’s claw, or as you would
shut a knife. In birds that are walkers, and not flyers, the first
wing-bone is short. The penguin, which never flies, has a little short
wing, which looks like a hand, without any arm.
Now, we come to the bird’s legs. In your leg, the thigh-bone, the one
from the hip to the knee, is the longest. In birds, it is the shortest.
Even in very long-legged birds, as the stork, the thigh-bone is short.
The length comes in the bone from the knee to the foot.
Thus, when the bird flies, its large, hollow, air-filled thigh-bone is
drawn up to the body, and the lower part of the leg is held backward,
and does not hinder the flight.
The foot of most birds has four toes. But some, as the ostrich, have
less. I shall talk to you about feet in the next lesson.
The first thing you notice about the bird’s head is the beak. I shall
tell you about beaks, also, in the next lesson. Now, I shall only say,
that the beak is the horny, outer end of the jaw-bone. Birds never have
any teeth. The beak often forms the larger part of the bird’s head. The
head is small for the body, and nearly flat on top.
When you see a bird with two things like horns on its head, as some
owls have, do not think that they are either horns or ears. Birds have
no horns. These things are only feather head-dresses. Birds have ears,
but the ear-hole is hidden under the feathers. Birds have very keen
sight, very keen power of smell.[24] They have loud, clear voices.
Many of them have very sweet voices. I suppose they have as good a
sense of taste as we have. I notice that parrots like sugar and cake,
and many birds like fruit.
What do birds have instead of teeth? They have inside of the body a
gizzard. It is part of the stomach. It is so made that it can grind up
the food as teeth would. Some birds swallow bits of shell and gravel,
which help the grinding.
The food goes into a bag called a crop. From the crop it goes to the
gizzard, where it is ground. Mother birds feed their very young birds
with food which has been softened in this way.
When you look at a bird, you will first of all notice the feathers.
They are its clothing, and help it in flying. Next to the body grows a
soft down. There are patches on the body where only down grows. These
spots, bare of feathers, give room for the play or motion of the larger
feathers. Such spots do not show, as the over-lapping of the large and
small feathers covers them.
The tail and wing feathers are the largest. The quill part of the
feather is hollow. You cannot move the hairs on your head. The bird
can move its feathers, and turns the large ones flat or sideways, as it
changes its flight. The smaller feathers are called coverts. They are
laid on one close over the other. They are chiefly for clothes, as the
large ones are chiefly for flying.
Many birds have splendid feathers. Have you seen the great train of a
peacock? But the peacock is not a bird that flies much. His tail would
hinder him in the air. All he can do in flying is to rise to a roof
or the limb of a tree. Some other birds have one or two long gay tail
plumes which do not hinder their flight.
When the little bird is first hatched it has no feathers. Have you seen
the wee chicks, just out of the shell? They are dressed in down. What
fluffy balls they are!
Peep into the robin’s nest, and see the nearly naked birds. They have
for clothes only a few long hairs. Do not touch them. Do not go when
the mother bird is there. But peep in each day, and watch how the
feathers grow. Or, you can watch feathers grow on your baby canary.
They grow very fast.
When first the robins begin to fly, notice that their feathers are not
quite like those of the old bird. The young robin’s breast is spotted,
not plain red. His feathers lie loosely. He looks puffy. Birds moult or
cast their coats. They drop their feathers in hot weather. This gives
them a chance to change old broken feathers for new ones. They get warm
new coats for winter. They do not drop all the feathers at once. But
some feathers go and some come, until the moult is over.
Most birds have some little bags of oil in their skin, on the back part
of their bodies. They can press the oil out of these bags with their
bills. Have you ever watched birds preening, or dressing themselves?
They are spreading this oil over their feathers to keep them soft and
clean.
Birds are very lovely creatures. They have graceful, elegant shapes,
eyes bright like jewels, and very fine bright colors. They are also
very wonderful in their ways. And many of them are very useful.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Some naturalists deny that birds have the sense of smell to any
degree, but experiments with blind birds seem to prove that this sense
is well developed.
LESSON XXIX.
BEAKS AND CLAWS.
Let us go out and take a walk together. What is this on the ground? It
is a bird’s foot. You know it by the four toes, three before and one
behind; by the scale-like, rough skin; by the long, sharp nails on the
toes.
What is this other thing lying here? That! Why, it is a bird’s bill, or
beak. You see that it is made in two pieces, of a hard, bony substance.
Now from the beak and the bill, can you go on and build up the bird for
me? Can you tell me what kind of bird it was; where it lived; what it
did; what it ate?
[Illustration: BEAKS.]
“No,” you say, “of course not.” But let us see. Are all beaks alike?
Think. “No,” you say, “they are not alike.” The duck’s bill is flat,
and soft, and spoon-shaped. The parrot’s bill is hard, not wide, but
high. The upper part bends over the under. It is curved like a hooked
nose.
The hen has a much smaller beak; it is thick, short, hard, pointed.
The two parts join evenly. The swallow has a very short, pointed bill.
It can open its mouth very wide. It is a three-cornered bill,--like a
triangle in shape. But the humming-bird has a very long, slim bill;
almost as slim as a knitting-needle.
Once I saw a kingfisher. He had a thick, strong bill. It was nearly
as large as his body. I wondered how he could carry it. In a museum I
saw a bird with a bill as wide as my hand, and longer. It looked heavy
enough to make the bird fall down.
Now I think you have told me a good many things about beaks. Let us
take a little look at them, and see what kinds of feet go with them.
How does the duck live? He lives mostly in the water. On land, if he
walks, he waddles, but he swims with grace.
He dives down in the water, thrusts his bill into the mud, and feels
about for things to eat. There, you see, he needs a wide bill, shaped
like a spoon, or shovel. He does not need a very hard bill, as mud is
soft. But he needs a bill that can feel the right kind of food, and
pick it up, just as your fingers feel things for which you search in a
bag.
Now what kind of feet has a duck? It has large feet, with three long
front toes, and one short hind toe, rather high up on the foot. What
you notice in the feet is a web, or skin, joining the toes together
quite up to the nail.
Have you watched the duck in the water? Have you seen him use these
webbed feet for paddles? Now the swimming birds, to which ducks, geese,
and swans belong, all have webbed feet. They all have the broad, flat,
rather soft bill.
Thus, when you find a wide full-webbed foot, you say, “This bird was
built for swimming. It had a light, wide body, shaped much like a boat.
Its feet were its paddles. Its wings were not very large. It had very
thick feathers, to keep it warm. They were oily to keep it dry. It fed
on water plants, seeds, grain, and things that it found in the mud.”
Sometimes you will find the beak of a swimming bird telling a different
story. It will be a very strong beak, with notches along it. It is a
fish-eating swimmer. Its rough bill is to hold fast to the slippery
fish.
Then, too, you may find webbed feet which have a new story to tell. You
may find a webbed foot, quite small, with a very long leg. The web goes
only part way to the toe nail. That bird could not swim. No. He was a
wading bird.
His long stilt-like legs held his body above the water, while he
watched for his fish food. The webs in his feet served, not to make him
a paddle-foot, but just to keep him from sinking in the soft sand or
mud. Or you may find the webs changed to broad flaps on each toe.
Now turn to the hen. Is her beak made for digging in mud, under water?
No. Her short, strong beak is for picking up grain or insects from
the ground. Now see what feet she has to match this beak. She has
walking feet. Her feet are large and strong, with separate toes and
strong nails. How does she use her feet? She spends nearly all her time
scratching and digging in the ground. She scratches up the earth with
her toes. She finds insects, worms, larvæ, and such things, to eat.
Once more look at a beak. Take the swallow’s short, wide, widely
opening beak. Watch the swallow as he flies. Now up, now down! Now
here, now there! He wheels, he makes a dash! He feeds upon the wing. He
eats insects. See that short, broad mouth, which opens as wide as his
whole head, and shows his big yellow throat. Is it not just the thing
for catching insects?
The swallow sweeps after the insect, and into that open throat it goes!
What story will this beak tell?
The story of a bird made for flying fast and far. The story of a bird
built to wheel and turn quickly. It must have large wings, a very light
body. As its head is so wide, it must be flat, or it will be too large.
This bird does not need to walk. Its food is in the air. Its legs and
feet will be very small. Its toes will be long, and made for holding
or clinging to trees or roofs. Its feathers must be close set; and its
tail be well shaped for a rudder.