Hazards of Bird Life

There is nothing in nature that expresses more the pure embodiment of joy-absolute freedom from care and grief-unalloyed brimming-over happiness- than the song of a bird. It may be the tipsy, bubbling song of the wren stopping for a melodious moment in his mad . scramble for bugs among the vines on your back porch; it may be the fullthroated whistle of the gorgeous cardinal signalling for . a mate to share the claim he has staked out among the maples of The Knoll; or perhaps it chances to be the sweet gurgle of the eaves-martin from his mud jug of a nest plastered high up under the eaves of the barn

The snakes of Iowa

Altho the popular attitude toward snakes has always been hostile, most of them are harmless and they are often of great value to agriculture. The common practice of killing every snake that shows its head grows out of a lack of knowledge about these animals and their frequent usefulness. It is of economic importance to agriculture in Iowa and elsewhere to have available information as to the useful species of snakes, and ways of separating them from the harmful kinds

Winged Waifs of Winter...

Who are they, these soft-clothed folk of the winter fields. and woods? Every one of us is interested in them, but how few are acquainted. Why did they stay here where it is cold while other birds-myriads of them-of hundreds of kinds went southing to a kinder climate

Notes on the Occurrence of Warts on Cottontail Rabbits

About twelve years ago my attention was drawn to some interesting epithelial growths on the head of a cottontail rabbit which was sent to the college by Mr. J. Schuyler Long, who wrote from the Iowa School for the Deaf at Council Bluffs. The head and accompanying letter were referred to Professor H. E. Summers, then head of the Department of Zoology at Iowa State College. The letter reads: I am sending you a rabbit\u27s head... It has several curious growths which resemble horns. I have killed a great many rabbits but never saw anything like it before. I should be pleased to hear... as to the explanation of this peculiar formation. The rabbit from which the head was taken was caught in a trap by one of our boys. In all other respects it looked like an ordinary rabbit and exhibited no other peculiarities, except that on two places on the body were growths similar in color and texture to these horns, but not pointed. They were about an inch square or a little less, and were raised about 3/4 to 1/2 inch out of the skin

A Fur Chat

The first manufacturer, so they tell us, was that ancient man in far-off antiquity who pulled the skin off a furry beast and wrapped it about him. From a pelt, torn off in order to get at the meat of his prey, he had made him a garment. It warmed him, comforted him, protected him from bramble scratches and insect bites. What was it to him that his descendants, a thousand generations down the years, would fashion delicate furs into elaborate, soft robes of exquisite beauty and frailty- the garb of luxury? To him they served primal needs, rough and undressed tho they were. We may wonder, but we can never know, how long man wore skins before he learned to scrape them with the chipped edges of flint scrapers, to have his women chew their edges to make them soft, to dry them and smoke them and oil them and work them into something like flexibility

Studies of the Collembolan Eye

In any primitive group of animals, there is an unusual interest attached to any organ which shows a simple structure, as having a possible bearing upon the history of the organ in a more highly specialized condition, as found in higher, closely related groups. Sometimes organs of seemingly simple structure are very puzzling from the fact that we are at a loss to determine whether their condition is primitive, or is due to degradation or partial atrophy. Embryological studies are often of value in determining the case, But not always. In entomology we have surprisingly few embryological studies which are specific enough to guide us in such determinations. When a group of insects varies widely however, in relation to any specified structure, a comparative study of its adult condition in the different members of the group may be of value

Some Home-Made Teaching Models

Models are of great value in teaching certain biological subjects. Nearly every teacher feels the need of certain models not obtainable from dealers. With practice and a fair degree of skill, these may be made for the occasion

Snake Notes

There is probably no inborn snake-dread. Snake species and personalities differ widely among themselves. A captive rattlesnake shed four skins and got four rattles in a year. Poisonous snakes shed and swallow their poison fangs. About 1600 rattlesnakes were presented for bounties last year in seven Iowa counties. Virginia elegans Kenn. is reported as new for Iowa. Figures of a double-headed garter snake and of a two-headed bullsnake embryo are given

The Furcula in the Collembola

The Collembola or Spring-tails comprise a very interesting order of wingless insects, usually associated with the order Thysanura, and frequently placed in that order. These little insects are common under bark and stones and among loose debris, wherever they can find dark, moist hiding places. As they range from less than 1 to only about 4 millimeters in length, and are usually very agile, we seldom notice them when collecting unless we are looking especially for them

Where Are the Birds?

A week ago, as I passed from my home to the college campus, about two blocks, and then across the campus to the office, I counted the number of birds nests that I could see remaining in the trees-27 nests were counted. I looked for several others that I knew were there last summer, but the storms of winter and other agencies had destroyed them during the half-year since they were bird homes. The majority of these nests- probably about two-thirds were those of robins; the rest had homed catbirds, red-winged blackbirds, goldfinches, orioles, and probably some other species