Part 4

It is delightful to watch them as drowsiness films their round, bright, black eyes, and the dear old mother croons them under her ample wings, and they nestle in perfect harmony. How they manage to bestow themselves with such limited accommodations, or how they manage to breathe in a room so close, it is difficult to imagine. They certainly deal a staggering blow to our preconceived notions of the necessity of oxygen and ventilation, but they make it easy to see whence the Germans derived their fashion of sleeping under feather beds. But breathe and bestow themselves they do. The deep mother breast and the broad mother wings take them all in.

They penetrate her feathers, and open for themselves unseen little doors into the mysterious, brooding, beckoning darkness. But it is long before they can arrange themselves satisfactorily. They chirp, and stir, and snuggle, trying to find the softest and warmest nook. Now, an uneasy head is thrust out, and now a whole tiny body; but it soon re-enters in another quarter, and at length the stir and chirp grows still. You see only a collection of little legs, as if the hen were a banyan tree, and presently even they disappear. She settles down comfortably and all are wrapped in a slumberous silence.

And as I sit by the hour, watching their winning ways, and see all the steps of this sleepy subsidence, I can but remember that outburst of love and sorrow from the lips of Him who, though He came to earth from a dwelling place of ineffable glory, called nothing unclean because it was common, found no homely detail too homely or too trivial to illustrate the Father's love; but from the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the lilies of the field, the stones in the street, the foxes in their holes, the patch on the coat, the oxen in the furrow, the sheep in the pit, the camel under his burden, drew lessons of divine pity and patience, of heavenly duty and delight."

BOB WHITE.

Who's whistling so cheerfully down in the clover, When the meadows are wet with the sweet morning dew? He's piping and calling, this ardent young lover, And telling his tale the whole morning through, What is it he says in the early sunlight? "Bob White! Bob White! Bob--Bob White!"

At noon, when the day god in wrath has descended, With his swift golden arrows, on grain-field and hill; And the birds of the morning their love songs have ended, Then deep in the wood, and down by the rill I hear a shrill whistle, so cheerful and bright: "Wheat ripe? Bob White! Not--not quite!"

When shadows of evening are lengthening slowly, Ere the night dews lie damp on the meadows again; As light breezes sweep o'er the soft grass so lowly, What is it he says? I hear the refrain, While in the thick verdure he's hid from my sight: "Good night! Bob White! Good--good night." Effie L. Hallett.

* * * * *

It might almost be said that the birds are all birds of the poets and of no one else, because it is only the poetical temperament that fully responds to them. So true is this, that all the great ornithologists--original namers and biographers of the birds--have been poets in deed if not in word. Audubon is a notable case in point, who, if he had not the tongue or pen of the poet, certainly had the eye and ear and heart and the singleness of purpose, the enthusiasm, the unworldliness, the love, that characterize the true and divine race of bards.

The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense is his life--large-brained, large-lunged, hot, ecstatic, his frame charged with buoyancy and his heart with song. The beautiful vagabonds, endowed with every grace, masters of all chimes, and knowing no bounds--how many human aspirations are realized in their free, holiday lives, and how many suggestions to the poet in their flight and song! John Burroughs in "Birds and Poets."

THE RAINBOW TROUT.

(_Salmo irideus_.)

The rainbow trout is a native of the mountain streams and lakes of the Pacific coast, ranging from the coast of Washington to San Diego, California. It was first made known to science in 1855 by Dr. Gibbons from specimens taken from Leander Creek, California. It is an extremely variable species, varying greatly in size, color, activity, etc. Those found near the sea spend much of their time in salt water, where living is easier and as a result they grow larger, lose their bright color and much of their activity. They usually return to fresh water with the salmon to feast upon their eggs.

The following are the most important varieties of the Rainbow Trout: The Brook Trout of Western Oregon, which is abundant in the streams of the Coast Range from Puget Sound to Southern California. Those taken in the headwaters of these streams seldom exceed a pound in weight, while those taken from brackish water, having spent considerable time in the sea, usually weigh from one to five pounds. The McCloud River Trout is abundant in streams of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Mt. Shasta southward. It grows to a large size, reaching, in the larger and warmer bodies of water, a weight of ten to fourteen pounds. This variety is the Rainbow Trout of the fish culturists. It has been planted in many of our eastern streams, where it has become more or less abundant.

The Kern River Trout is known only from the Kern River in California. It often reaches a weight of eight pounds. The No-Shee Trout inhabits the Sacramento basin; it often reaches a weight of twelve pounds. The Golden Trout of Mount Whitney inhabits the streams on both sides of Mount Whitney, California.

The varieties mentioned here are usually recognized by students of fishes, but the angler sees many more varieties in different localities, and has given to them other names, as Red Sides, Mountain Trout, Brook Trout, etc. The Rainbow Trout, when taken from clear, cool water, is an extremely handsome fish. It is usually bluish in the upper part of the body; sides silvery; the body is everywhere covered with small, dark spots irregularly arranged, and extending on the fins. The side is usually provided with a red band which extends on the sides of the head. There is usually a dash of red under the chin. As soon as the fish is taken from the water its color changes. The red lateral band will pass through different shades of red, from a deep dark color to light crimson. The captured fish thus gives its captor a display of bright color superior to that possessed by any other fresh water fish.

The Rainbow Trout is quite as handsome as the Eastern Brook Trout and affords the angler an equal amount of sport. Those found in swift mountain streams are strong swimmers. To capture them with the rod the angler must display the highest skill possible. The same tactics which will catch a Rainbow Trout in one stream may fail in the next or even a second time in the same stream. It matters not in what mountain stream you fish the trout you catch are always superior to those you have previously taken in other streams.

The food of the Rainbow Trout is made up largely of worms, crustacea, insect larvae and the like. In the fall those in salmon streams feast on salmon eggs. During the spawning time of the salmon the trout in the ocean return to fresh water and accompany the salmon to their spawning beds. Many persons who catch them for table use do so with hooks baited with salmon eggs. Often salmon eggs are salted and dried and thus retained as bait for the entire year. No other bait seems so tempting to the Rainbow Trout. The sea run individuals are not so brightly colored as those which always remain in fresh water. On their return to fresh water they seem to have lost none of their game qualities. As a table fish they are not inferior to any fish taken in fresh water.

The size of the Rainbow Trout depends upon its surroundings, the volume and temperature of the water and the amount of food it contains. They vary from the mere fingerlings found in small mountain brooks to those from ten to fourteen pounds, as found in Klamath and other similar lakes. The Rainbow Trout will live in warmer and more sluggish water than the Brook Trout, and for this reason it is being planted in many streams in the east, which are unsuitable for the Brook Trout. It is also being planted in many streams once inhabited by the Brook Trout, but because of the change due to civilization have become unsuitable for them. Rainbow Trout can now be found in many streams of the Allegheny region, in streams in Michigan, in the Ozark region and in many streams of the Western States. The Rainbow Trout is a superior game fish. It is a vigorous biter, and fights bravely for liberty. In no respects is it inferior to the Eastern Brook Trout.

The method of hatching Rainbow Trout is very interesting. At government hatching stations a large number of males and females are kept in ponds for breeding purposes. When ready to spawn the eggs are easily taken from the female by gently pressing on the ventral surface of the body. After fertilizing them with milt taken in a similar way from the male they are placed in wire trays in wooden troughs through which there is flowing a current of water. In water of 50 degrees F. the eggs will hatch in from forty-two to forty-five days. A female weighing one-half to one and one-half pounds will yield from five hundred to eight hundred eggs. One from two to four pounds, two thousand five hundred to three thousand eggs. When the eggs are partly hatched they may be carefully placed in trays and kept free from injury, and packed in ice and sent to any part of the country. In this way they are often sent across the continent, also to Europe, Brazil and Japan. The cool temperature stops the hatching, which will begin again as soon as placed in water of suitable temperature. The fact that so many eggs can be taken from one female and a very large per cent (eighty-five per cent or more) hatched makes it possible to plant, in suitable streams, a large number of young fish each year. If the eggs were deposited in the stream by the fishes themselves the greater number would be eaten by young fishes, crustaceans, insects, etc. Here is a case where man is able to assist mother nature, and to preserve and widely distribute some of our most useful fishes. The Rainbow Trout is receiving much attention and yielding profitable returns. It will always give the angler an opportunity to display his highest skill, and afford a fair recompense for the toil of fishery. Seth E. Meek.

DAY AND NIGHT.

Day is a snow-white dove of heaven, That from the east glad message brings: Night is a stealthy, evil raven, Wrapped to the eyes in his black wings. Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

THE GEOLOGICAL SUCCESSION OF FISHES.

In discussing this subject it will be necessary to say something about the geological history of the earth. Each geological age had its own peculiar fauna, and to write about any part of it means that we must know something about the particular geological age in which the animals under consideration flourished, and something of the earth's previous history.

The earth is supposed to be a small, condensed portion of the gaseous material which astronomers tell us at one time pervaded all space. The heat given off when the gas was condensing has been largely converted into mechanical energy which makes the earth revolve once in twenty-four hours and sends it flying through space. As soon as the earth decreased to about its present size and became cool enough for water to be condensed on its surface, it began to write its own history. Its entire surface may have at one time been covered to a uniform depth by water. If such was ever the case it did not remain so long. The interior of the earth was very hot and the crust cooled very irregularly and portions of it rose above the surface of the water. Since then there have been two antagonizing forces at work. The heat has caused the earth's surface to become irregular and the water has made a strong effort, which has been partially successful, to reduce all irregularities to the same level. We do not know how long these forces nearly balanced each other, but sooner or later dry land appeared in many places on the earth's surface. This was for a long period of time washed by heavy rains while the shores for some distance seaward were worn away by action of the tidal waves. Much of the land area then sank below sea level, and became covered with sand, gravel and the like. The portion which remained above the level is called the Archaean. Later a general elevation of the land area brought above sea level much of this land and gravel, forming around the Archaean an increased land era, which we call Silurian. The time when the sand and gravel was deposited forming this land is known as the Silurian age. Following this came the Devonian age. After this in the following order came the following geological ages: Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary and then the present or Recent age, the one in which we now live. Each of these ages is characterized by the peculiar animals which then predominated, and these animals are known only from their remains imbedded in the rocks as fossils.

It may not be out of place here to mention that rocks are usually placed in two great classes, those which have been subject to great heat, melted, or partly so, at one time, then cooled and hardened are called metamorphic or igneous rocks. To these belong such rocks as our granites. Those which have not been changed by heat are called sedimentary rocks, such as sandstones, limestones, etc. In the former class we find no fossils. If fossils ever existed there, the fusing of the rocks has destroyed them. Sedimentary rocks contain many fossils. The Archaean area contains no sedimentary rocks, hence no fossils. Between the close of the Archaean and beginning of the Silurian is a long interval of which we know nothing. If any rocks were formed during this interval they are in no place exposed to the surface of the earth as are portions of all other formations. Life evidently existed then, for at the close of this interval or rather at the beginning of the Silurian we find a large number of Invertebrates. There were corals, crinoids, brachiopods, lamellibranches, gasteropods, cephalopods, worms and crustaceans. All of these animals flourished during the Silurian.

It was during the latter part of the Silurian that fishes first made their appearance. If they lived earlier than this they were of low organization and possessed no hard parts, and when they died they would entirely decay, leaving nothing to be preserved as fossils. Of course, no one lived then to give fishes easy common names, and so we only know them by the long, hard scientific names given by scientific men. These we will use as little as possible in this article. In classifying fishes they fall into a few large groups, as follows: The lowest fish in point of structure is the lancelet, a small, semi-transparent animal, with no hard parts, as teeth, spines or bones. We would not expect it to be preserved as a fossil and so we find none. The next group contains our lampreys and hag fishes. These are parasites. They vary in length from a few inches to more than three feet. With a mouth nearly circular they attach themselves to other fishes and feast upon their blood. The hag fish eats its way into the fish and remains there until its host is a living hulk of skin and bones. Fishes known as Pteraspids, thought by some scientists to belong to this group, are found in the upper part of the Silurian. The lampreys of the present day have no very hard teeth and their backbone is simply very soft cartilage. These ancient lampreys, called Pteraspids, had the head and part of the body covered with a coat of mail. Of these there flourished in the last days of the Silurian quite a number of species. The next group of fishes are the sharks, the most blood-thirsty of all the inhabitants of the sea. Sharks flourished to some extent in the upper part of the Silurian. The shark has no true bones and its covering consists of shagreen tentacles. It is provided with hard teeth and the dorsal fins of the ancient shark were provided each with a hard, stout spine. The teeth were large, flat and fit for crushing. We know these ancient sharks only by the spines, shagreen tentacles and the teeth. These, however, furnished abundant evidence that the sharks in the upper Silurian were numerous as to individuals and species. The Chimera, a fish much resembling the sharks, was also abundant in the upper Silurian. A group of fishes usually known as ganoids and which comprise the lung fishes of the Nile, of Australia, the garpikes of North America and the sturgeons, were very abundant during the closing days of the Silurian. The fishes of this group are especially well preserved as fossils, their covering consisted of bony plates or bucklers or of scales covered with a coat of enamel. Their outer covering was well suited to become fossilized, and so we know this group much better than we do any other found in the Silurian.

The next and last group of fishes is known as Teleosts, or bony fishes. To this group belong our typical fishes, such as black bass, sun fishes, suckers, cat fishes and the like. None of this group lived during the Silurian.