Birds and Nature Vol. 09 No. 5 [May 1901]: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and Nature Vol. 09 No. 5 [May 1901]: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
An ingenious method of capturing a species of the smaller squids
(Ommastrephes illecebrosa) in use by the fishermen of the New England
coast is as follows: The squid has the habit of swimming in an opposite
direction to a light, as the full moon, so the fishermen go out to sea
in boats, light a large torch in each boat and slowly row toward the
shore, driving the squid, which of course swim backward in an opposite
direction from the light, upon the beach, where they may be gathered by
thousands after such an expedition. Another method of capture is by
jigging; the jig is made of a piece of lead some two inches in length
which is armed with a circle of sharp, unbarbed wires pointing upward
and curving outward. The process of jigging is accomplished as follows:
the jig is attached to twelve or fifteen feet of stout line and is
lowered into the water, which is generally chosen of a depth of ten feet
from the side of a small boat. When near the bottom it is kept moving
slowly up and down until a squid is felt upon it, when it is suddenly
drawn to the surface with the squid attached. These squid, when caught,
are used for bait, a single fishing smack being known to use as many as
eighty thousand squids in a single season.
A familiar object to most canary-bird fanciers is the cuttle-bone placed
in the cages of these birds for them to sharpen their beaks upon. This
“cuttle-bone” is the internal support of the Cuttle-fish (Sepia
officinalis) and is homologous with the pen of the squid, mentioned
above. The animal of Sepia is short and rounded, with a large head
surrounded by a row of eight short arms and two very long tentacular
arms, ending in expanded clubs armed with powerful suckers. Like the
Octopus and Squid, the Cuttle-fish is capable of many changes of colors
by the contraction and expansion of its pigment cells. They are found
throughout the world, living near the shore, but the species found about
European shores are the best known.
Frank Collins Baker.
God made all the creatures and gave them
Our love and our fear,
To give sign we and they are His children,
One family here.
—Robert Browning.
THE TRAILING ARBUTUS.
(_Epigaea repens._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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