File:Birds and nature (1906) (14750181852).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature41906chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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s stomach,and that he could almost instantly addfeet, yards, or rods to the roll. Thefacts are that Spiders have a regularspinning machine—a set of tiny tubesat the far end of the body—and thatthe threads are nothing more nor lessthan a white, sticky fluid, whichhardens as soon as it comes in contactwith the air. The Spider does notreally and truly spin, but begins athread by pressing his spinneretagainst some object, to which theliquid sticks. He then moves awayand by constantly ejecting the fluidand allowing it to harden, forms hisropes or wonderful geometrical nets. Birds have separate notes of warn-ing to indicate whether danger is inthe shape of a Hawk or a Cat or aman. If a Cat, a Hawk, or an Owl is onthe move, the Birds, especially Black-birds, always utter a clattering note,constantly repeated, and Chickenshave a special sound to indicate thepresence of a Hawk. But when dis-turbed by man the Blackbirds havequite a different sound of alarm andthe Chickens also. 104 1^ ^^^*^
Text Appearing After Image:
196 TUFTED PUFFIN. = Life si/c. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHIC; L THE TUFTED PUFFIN. (^ HESE birds nest in colonies, ^ the family consisting of about ^ thirty species, nearly all found ~^ in the northern parts of thenorthern hemisphere. Audubon issaid to have procured the specimenfigured by him at the mouth of theKennebec river, Maine, the only recordof its occurrence on the Atlantic coast. The Tufted Puffin breeds upon therocks and in the Rabbit warrens nearthe sea, finding the ready-made burrowsof the Rabbit very convenient for thereception of its egg, and fighting withthe owner for the possession of itsburrow. Where Rabbits do not existsthe Puffin digs its own burrows, andworks hard at its labor. The egg isgenerally placed several feet withinthe holes, and the parent defends itvigorously. Like most of the sea birds, bothsexes assist in incubation, says a recentwriter, referring to the birds found atthe famous rookery in the open sea twohundred miles west of Fort Wrangell,an

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