FIG. 2. THE BIG COTTONWOOD TREE CUT DOWN beneath the water and into the beavers' houses, FIG. 4. by beavers while these busy little animals were building a dam. This photograph is interesting not only because it illustrates how successfully I FOUND this bird, a young, brown creeper, on the sidewalk. Thinking to make a picture of it, I took it home in my pocket. With the camera in readiness, I placed my winged sitter on another tripod. It immediately fluttered off; which process was repeated many times, till, finally, it tired, and stayed where placed-but what was the use of picturing it now? It looked like nothing more than a rolledup bunch of feathers. After giving it a rest, I started to pick it up, when it hopped along my arm, to my shoulder, to my neck, over my head, and down to my nose, where it remained perfectly still. Slowly moving to a mirror, I saw that the bird was in its natural shape, though on an unnatural support-but here was my chance and I took advantage of it. So I stood before the camera and "THE NOSEY' BIRD." pressed the bulb, with this odd picture as the result of my first attempt at bird photography. ARTHUR E. ANDERSON. No animals can live without air. There are some bacteria which can do so, but bacteria are plants rather than animals. During periods of dormancy, some animals can get along with very little air, and much less than during active life. Frogs in winter require very little, since their activities are nearly stopped, and there is enough air in the soil to support what little life they have in cold weather. The stories of frogs incased in stone for years are mostly false, and where there is any basis for such stories, the animals are in cracks in rocks where they have been, possibly, from the time of their larval life. They are always, however, supplied with air in these places. The only possible exception to the above statement which I know of, is in cases of some animals that can actually be frozen and resume their life upon being thawed out. Where this occurs, the animals seem to have no activities while frozen, and their life is stopped. They might, in this condition, remain alive for a while without any air, but simply because they are dormant.-H. W. CONN. QUESTIONS REGARDING DOUBLE STARS (For older readers) LOS ANGELES, CAL. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I would like the following questions answered: I. In what direction-that is, toward what constellation -is the proper motion of the star Alpha Centauri? 2. What is the average distance apart, in millions of miles, of double stars which are known to be really bound together in the chains of reciprocal gravitation? Your constant reader, CHARLES F. RICHTER. 1. This beautiful double-sun system is moving almost directly westward across the southern sky, in a direction toward the northern boundary of the Southern Cross. 2. This it is difficult to say, for we, as yet, know so very few dimensions that we cannot now even make a guess at the "average" size. It is only those systems that are unusually near us whose size in miles has so far been found; and these are a very small percentage of the whole number. It can be said, however, that, in general, the systems are on a much larger scale than our solar system. For example, the system Alpha Centauri is made up of two suns which together weigh about twice as much as our sun, the distance between them being 23.6 times the distance from the sun to the earth. The system 02 Eridani is a triple one, two of the suns being separated by a distance as great as that from our sun to Uranus, but these two are separated from the great central sun about which they are both revolving by a distance at least twenty times as great. In fact, it is probable that many of the systems are hundreds and perhaps thousands of times as extensive as our own.-ERIC DOOLITTLE. The lines of light that you see, when you look at a street lamp with partly closed eyes, are due not to the lamp, but to a peculiarity of the eye itself. As you bring the lids together, the moisture which lies upon the surface of the eye is carried before them, and forms a watery lens, through which you view the lamp. This lens is saddle-shaped; that is, it is concave in the updown and convex in the right-left direction. The rays from the lamp which strike the center of the watery lens pass on, straight through the pupil, to the center of the retina (the sensitive membrane) of the eye, and are thus seen correctly. But the rays which strike the curved surfaces of the watery lens are bent up and down, and thus reach the retina above and below the center. These rays are then seen as long streamers, projected downward and upward-the lines of light to which you refer. For the especial benefit of our older readers I may add that the phenomenon is explained by Professor J. Le Conte, in his book on "Sight," 1881, pp. 87, 88.-PROFESSOR E. B. TITCHENER, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. accorded to the negroes. The theory of descent from the lost colony may be regarded as baseless, but the name itself serves as a convenient label for the people.- Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C. A MAIL-BOX FOR BIRD STUDY BROOKSVALE, CONN. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Our mail-box had been in its place on the post only a few days, on our return to the farm for the summer, before we began to have trouble. At first we For many The term "Croatan Indians," popularly called "white Indians," is the legal designation in North Carolina for a people evidently of mixed Indian and white blood, found in various sections of the State, but chiefly in Robeson County, and numbering approximately five thousand. years they were classed with the free negroes, but steadily refused to accept such classification, or to attend the negro schools or churches, claiming to be the descendants of the early native tribes and of white settlers who had intermarried with them. About twenty years ago, their claim was officially recognized, and they were given a separate legal existence under the title of "Croatan Indians," on the theory of descent from Raleigh's lost colony of Croatan. Under this name they now have separate school provision, and are admitted to some privileges not THE EVENT OF THE DAY-GETTING THE MAIL AND SEEING THE WRENS' NEST. found only a few pieces of short sticks which we thought some mischievous boys had put there on their return from school. After the box had been cleaned each day for a number of days, and the sticks, as we thought, were replaced by some one each day, Papa began to scold and talk about what could be done to people who interfere with mail-boxes. Then we made a discovery-the sticks were all broken very evenly, and the children watching the box saw two small wrens busily at work. Papa said they were not to be disturbed, and in a few days the sticks took on the form of a neat home in one corner of the box. The lid did not close so tightly but that the small birds had access at all times, and then happened the most wonderful thing of all. In the nest appeared a small spotted brown egg and then five more-six in all. Every day came the R. F. D. mailand put mail in the box, and every day it was taken out by the children or some member of the family, who took this chance to peep at the eggs in the corner. In what seemed a very short time came another discovery-five of the tiniest little bodies occupied the home in the corner of the box. Really it seemed as though they were all mouths, and how busy the father and mother were taking care of their babies, and without being much disturbed by the daily visit of the mail-man. man, Uncle Sam carries many queer things in the mail, and has to deal with many queer people, but we doubt if he ever before had tenants like the wrens who occupied our mail-box, or that gave so much real pleasure to children. LINDA MCMASTER. ONCE there was a little lamb. He had soft white wool and pretty bright eyes, and he lived with his brothers and sisters and the old mama sheep on a big farm. All day long the lambs played in a field. But at night, when the sun began to go down behind the hill, the old farmer came, and locked them all up in a place called the sheepfold, where they would be safe and warm until the morning. Now the little lambs did not like this at all. They thought it was horrid to be locked up while the meadow was still warm and sunny, and they fretted and grumbled because they had to come in so early. But when the old mama sheep told them it would soon be quite dark outside, and that then a great wolf would come prowling around looking for little lambs to eat, they were glad to be safe inside, all but this naughty little lamb who liked to have his own way. wanted to see what the dark was like. He said he was n't afraid of an old wolf; he did n't believe there was one, and if there was, it could n't hurt him; he could run faster than any old wolf. He At last, one day, he crept behind a big bush and kept as still as a mouse until the mama sheep and his brothers and sisters were all locked up in the sheepfold and the old farmer had gone away to his house. Then he scampered out. How nice it was to be out all alone by himself! He could not keep still a moment, he was so happy. He ran round and round the big meadow. He nibbled at the green grass and sweet clover, and by and by, when he was thirsty, trotted off to the brook and took a good long drink of the cool water. Then he scampered through the field again, and rolled over and over in the soft long grass. The sun went lower and lower behind the hill, until at last he was quite gone and the little lamb could not see him any more. It grew darker and darker. Then the |