Birds and All Nature, Vol. 4, No. 3, September 1898: Illustrated by Color Photography — John Shaqi
Birds and All Nature, Vol. 4, No. 3, September 1898: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and All Nature, Vol. 4, No. 3, September 1898: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
Another distinguished English traveler, a Mr. Bryden, has observed
that the beasts and birds of the deserts must have private stores of
water of which we know nothing. Mr. Bryden, however, has seen the
Sand-Grouse of South America on their flight to drink at a desert pool.
"The watering process is gone through with perfect order and without
overcrowding"--a hint to young people who are hungry and thirsty at
their meals. "From eight o'clock to close on ten this wonderful flight
continued; as birds drank and departed, others were constantly arriving
to take their places. I should judge that the average time spent by
each bird at and around the water was half an hour."
To show the wonderful instinct which animals possess for discovering
water an anecdote is told by a writer in the _Spectator_, and the
article is republished in the _Living Age_ of February 5. The question
of a supply of good water for the Hague was under discussion in Holland
at the time of building the North Sea Canal. Some one insisted that
the Hares, Rabbits, and Partridges knew of a supply in the sand hills,
because they never came to the wet "polders" to drink. At first the
idea excited laughter. Then one of the local engineers suggested that
the sand hills should be carefully explored, and now a long reservoir
in the very center of those hills fills with water naturally and
supplies the entire town.
All this goes to prove to our mind that if Seals do not apparently
drink, if Cormorants and Penguins, Giraffes, Snakes, and Reptiles seem
to care nothing for water, some of them do eat wet or moist food, while
the Giraffe, for one, enjoys the juices of the leaves of trees that
have their roots in the moisture. None of these animals are our common,
everyday pets. If they were, it would cost us nothing to put water
at their disposal, but that they never drink in their native haunts
"can not be proved until the deserts have been explored and the total
absence of water confirmed."--_Ex._
[Illustration: From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.
CHICAGO COLORTYPE CO.,
CHIC. & NEW YORK. AMERICAN HERRING GULL.
1/6 Life-size.
Copyright by
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.]
THE HERRING GULL.
Just how many species of Gulls there are has not yet been determined,
but the habits and locations of about twenty-six species have been
described. The American Herring Gull is found throughout North America,
nesting from Maine northward, and westward throughout the interior on
the large inland waters, and occasionally on the Pacific; south in
the winter to Cuba and lower California. This Gull is a common bird
throughout its range, particularly coast-wise.
Col. Goss in his "Birds of Kansas," writes as follows of the Herring
Gull:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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