I stood by my study window after dark. An electric light a few blocks
distant, cast shadows of the small limbs of a tree upon the window-pane.
Those shadows were in constant motion because of the wind blowing
through the trees. Through the dancing shadows I saw the brilliant light
against the darkness of the western sky. My breath condensed into
moisture on the cold glass, and through that moisture the electric light
shone in the center of a brilliantly-colored circle, composed of myriads
of pencils of light, radiating from the dazzling central point. As the
moisture evaporated the pencils became fewer and coarser, bright lines
and fragments of lines, rather than pencils. A few breaths on the glass,
more moisture condensed and again the pencils were in myriads. I enjoyed
the small but brilliant view in the same spirit in which I enjoy the
starry heavens on a grand mountain outlook.
As I looked I thought of many things. I thought of my own mind with its
wondrous thinking machinery; I thought of my eyes and of their marvelous
mechanism by which the brain received so much thought-producing
material; I thought of the burning furnace within my body that sent out
heated air laden with the invisible vapor of water; I thought of the
laws of heat and cold by which that vapor was instantly condensed and
became visible when it came in contact with the cold glass; I thought of
the transparent glass and of all the changes it had passed through since
it was a mineral in the primeval rocks; I thought of the tree with its
naked branches whose fibers were being toughened by constant wrestling
with the wind; I thought of the leaves that in a few weeks would cover
those twigs and conceal from me the electric light; I thought of the
invisible air with its strange elements and properties, and of the laws
of meteorology that produced the wind; I thought of the electric wire
and of the distant copper mines from which it came; I thought of the
mysterious force that we call electricity, of the coal, the engine, the
machinery, that produce it, and of the light that it produces; I thought
of the mysterious thing that we call light and of the laws of light that
gave me those penciled rays; I thought of the things that were made for
“glory and for beauty” as well as for practical utility; and I thought
of God.
And so, according to such knowledge as I had of psychology, of
physiology, of physics, of meteorology, of botany, of mineralogy, of
chemistry, of optics, of electricity, of esthetics, and of natural
theology, were my thoughts manifold, rich, suggestive, correlated,
inspiring, spiritual even, in their last analysis.
That which to many would be a thing of no interest, a commonplace sight
not worth a second glance, was to me full of beauty, tinged with glory,
spiritually helpful, and an occasion for praising and worshiping God.
Roselle Theodore Cross.
[Illustration: BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER.
(Dendroica virens).
Life-size.
FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES.]
THE BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER.
(_Dendroica virens._)
One of the interesting nature studies is an investigation of the groups
of insect-eating birds in reference to their food and the methods
employed in obtaining it. Some insects are useful to man, but by far the
larger number are a detriment to his interests in one way or another.
The swallows and swifts are almost constantly on the wing, dexterously
catching any insects that come in their way. They are day birds and at
night are replaced by the nighthawks that feed upon the night flying
insects. Next are the flycatchers that dart “from ambush at passing
prey, and with a suggestive click of the bill, return to their post.”
The beautiful little hummingbird, ever active on the wing, quickly sees
and picks from leaf or flower insects that would escape the attention of
other birds. The woodpeckers and allied birds examine the tree trunks
and carefully listen for the insect that may be boring through the wood
within. The vireos, like the good housekeeper, examine the “nooks and
corners to see that no skulker escapes.” The robin and its sister
thrushes and the numerous sparrows attend to the surface of the earth,
and aquatic birds extensively destroy those insects whose development
takes place either in or on the water.
Not the least among the birds that assist man in his warfare upon insect
pests are our beautiful and active warblers that frequent the foliage of
tree and shrubs patiently gathering their insect food.
One of these is the Black-throated Green Warbler of our illustration. If
we desire to examine its habits, except during the period of migration,
we must visit the forests of cone bearing trees in the northern woods of
the eastern United States, in the Allegheny mountains and from these
points northward to Hudson Bay. It is almost useless to seek this bird
in other places. Here, high up in the cedars, pines and hemlock in cozy
retreats far out on the branches it builds its nest. “The foundation of
the structure is of fine shreds of bark, fine dry twigs of the hemlock,
bits of fine grass, weeds and dried rootlets, intermixed with moss and
lined with rootlets, fine grass, some feathers and horse hair.” The
nests are usually bulky and loosely constructed. These rollicksome
Warblers have a peculiar song which is very characteristic and not
easily forgotten. The descriptions of this song are almost as numerous
as are the observers. One has given this rendering: “Hear me Saint
Ther-e-sa.” Another has very aptly described it as sounding like,
“Wee-wee-su-see,” the syllables “uttered slowly and well drawn out; that
before the last in a lower tone than the two former, and the last
syllable noticeably on the upward slide; the whole being a sort of
insect tone, altogether peculiar, and by no means unpleasing.”
The song of the Black-throated Green Warbler is so unlike that of the
other warblers that it becomes an important characteristic of the
species. Mr. Chapman says, “There is a quality about it like the droning
of bees; it seems to voice the restfulness of a midsummer day.”
Those who wish to observe this bird and cannot go to its nesting
retreats, in the evergreen forests, must seek in any wooded land during
its migrations to and from the tropics, where it finds an abundance of
food during the rigors of our northern winters.