colored eggs, could no doubt feel the rush of air and the tremor of the ground as the great iron monsters roared by.

The king-bird is a bird that seems to delight in the activities of man. One of their nests was built in the framework of a railroad mail-crane standing four feet back from the rails, at a desolate little way-station. Here the lonely postmaster came each day and hung the mail-sack, and as the fast train rushed past, it roughly grasped the sack from the crane; yet, notwithstanding the postmaster's daily visits and the fast train's noisy interruption, Mr. and Mrs. King-bird persisted in building their home, and, after the four beau

tifully spotted, cream-colored eggs were hatched, rearing their young in this peculiar location.

I remember another king-bird's nest built on the edge of a water-tank, where the thirsty engines belched forth great clouds of black, sooty smoke which must have almost suffocated the patient little mother bird in the nest. Yet another pair of king-birds built their nest between the two diagonal braces of a large farm gate, barely five Vol. XXXIX.-83.

A NEARER VIEW OF THE NEST IN
THE FRAMEWORK.

was never molested, and raised four lusty young ones without accident.-ROBERT B. ROCKWELL.

A CAT MOTHER'S GOSLINGS

A CAT in Hannibal, Missouri, has adopted five goslings as her family. She tries to keep them warm, and gives them as careful attention as

THE CAT IN A PAN WITH GOSLINGS.

she would give her own kittens. Every evening she gets them together in a pan, where they stay, as shown in the illustration. It is a strange fact that when a cat's kittens are taken from her, the mother instinct turns toward almost any available young. There are many examples of a cat's having adopted chickens, squirrels, and even rats. The photograph was forwarded by F. L. Kelley, President of the Hannibal Humane Society, and we are using it through the courtesy of "Our Dumb Animals," Boston, Massachusetts.

twelfth century, horns were used as war trumpets and as drinking vessels. They were highly ornamented with carvings representing war and domestic scenes. A good illustration of them may be found in "The Viking Age," by Paul B. DuChaillu, Vol. I, page 242. That they were so used long before the Christian era, there is convincing evidence.

The powder-horn has played an important part in the history of this country. During the Revolutionary War, the powder-horns were not carved, but were engraved or etched. Some were thus ornamented by expert engravers, but most of them by the soldiers who made them. History says that there were ten thousand in use during the war, but this must be a mistake, as more would be required, since every man had one. Some bore unique inscriptions, some had maps of the country, or figures of fish, deer, birds, and other animals.

Horn-carving may be made a work of art equal

to ivory-carving. A finely carved ox-horn is worth from five to ten, or even twenty-five, dollars.

The old-time New England ox-horns, such as the soldiers of the Revolution carried, are now hard to find. We must get them from the western stock-yards if we want large ones. Cow-horns will do for beginners in carving, but even they are getting scarce, as so many cows are being dehorned.

To prepare a horn for carving or engraving, the best way is to file the entire surface (it may be scraped with a piece of glass or a sharp knife), then sandpaper it smooth, so that you can draw on the surface any design that you want. You may first polish it, if you like, with pumice-stone and water, followed by chalk or whiting and

A PIECE OF WOOD RESEMBLING A SNAKE

water. Then rub, rub, rub. It will take two hours to give a horn a good polish.

For engraving, use ordinary engraver's tools. For cameo carving or raised work, use fine Swiss carving-tools. Common gouges and chisels will do, but the finer tools hold their cutting edge longer and better.

Horn is in a class by itself. There is nothing just like it. Few acids will affect it. It can be stained by potash and red lead, which is used to produce the tortoise-shell effect on some combs. Many think that horns must be softened in order to carve them. This is a mistake. They can be softened only by a high degree of heat, either dry or moist, but they will remain soft for not more than ten minutes.

In carving horn one must cut away all except the figure that one wishes to represent. This is slow, hard work. Engraving is much easier, but not so artistic. T. S. HITCHCOCK, M.D.S.

A CARROT HAND

THE photograph of a hand-shaped carrot was sent by Mr. E. Kay Robinson of London, Eng

HERE is the photograph of a piece of wood that, at first glance, looks much like a snake. The end of the stick is remarkable in its close resemblance to the snake's head. It was found by Mr. Walter E. Boyd, Red Bank, New Jersey, while he was strolling in the woods.

A STRANGE DRESS FOR TREES

EDITH WHITMORE, Bedford, England, sends to "Nature and Science" an interesting photograph of trees that have been sewed up in cloth. She explains that they needed to be protected in this manner from the locusts that come in great numbers. The covering is said to be effective, but it gives the trees a very odd appearance. The "hoppers," as the locusts are called, attack nearly all kinds of plants and trees, and often destroy every green leaf. In the morning or in the evening they are easily driven, and many are then destroyed in various ways. The photograph was taken on an

estate in the Argentine Republic.

The "energy" expended in bending the wire appears as heat. A similar result is obtained by hammering a wire, or other piece of metal, or by rubbing it briskly.

Heat is a form of motion (see Tyndall's book on this subject), and the motion used in bending the wire is changed into this other form of motion called heat. We believe that this heat is due to a rapid motion (vibration) of the particles (molecules) of which the metal is composed. These molecules and their motion are far too small to be seen.-H. L. W.

MARIELI BENZIYER (age 12). Decidedly no. The little boy who let the kitten fall from a third-story window, as I understand from the letter that he did, was a very careless little boy indeed, and it was only a lucky chance for the kitten that it was not hurt. Cats and kittens are very tender, delicate things, easily hurt, and very subject to nervous shock, but seldom showing the full extent of their suffering to a chance observer. I have known cats to come through terrible experiences apparently unhurt, but die of the effects weeks after.-JANE R. CATHCART.

SUNSHINE AND SNEEZING

KENWOOD, N. Y. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: My baby sister just loves to sit out on the grass, but Mother always turns her back to the sun because she says that it makes her sneeze if the sun shines in her eyes. Can you tell me why this is? Your devoted reader,

ADELE NOYES.

A certain nerve sends one branch to the inner parts of the eye, and a second branch to the lining of the nose. The strong light irritates the

nerve branch in the eye, and by what is called "reflex action," that is, an action over which we have no control,-the irritation seems to be conveyed to the branch in the nose, and makes us sneeze. To tell why the effect is produced would call for a long lecture on anatomy and physiology. The nerve in the eye sometimes becomes so sensitive through disease that ordinary daylight, or even the light of a lamp, will make the patient sneeze.-A. C. S.

THE EYE ADAPTS ITSELF TO THE QUANTITY OF LIGHT ROCHESTER, N. Y. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Please explain to me why my kitten's eyeballs are sometimes round, and then shaped somewhat like a cigar, in the second case being parallel with her nose.

Your constant reader,

LAWRENCE GREENE (age 131⁄2).

The shape of the eyeballs cannot change. Any alteration must be in the form of the opening between the eyelids, caused by a movement of the lids themselves. But when you refer to the eyeball, you probably mean the pupil, or what appears to be a little black spot on the front of the eye. This changes its form by the movement of the iris, the colored part of the eye, which expands in dimly lighted places and contracts when looking at a bright or very intense light. In man, the pupil is naturally circular; in the cat, it is naturally long, narrow, and upright, and under the influence of the light may become somewhat cigar-shaped and parallel with the nose. It is impossible for the ball of the eye to become altered as you describe.-A. C. S.

The rainbow is produced by the reflection of sunbeams by falling raindrops. We must look toward the raindrops in order to see the reflected rainbow, and not toward the sun, which must be behind us. In the afternoon, when summer thunder-storms occur, the sun is west of us; therefore, we turn our backs to the sun, and see the rainbow east of us. We can see a rainbow in the west when thunder-storms occur in the morning,-that is, in the west while the sun is in the east.-WILLIS L. MOORE, Chief U. S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D. C.

water the more of these gases, chiefly oxygen and nitrogen, are dissolved. So that when cold water which has taken up air is warmed, some of this gas usually appears as bubbles.

Therefore, whenever water which is saturated with air is heated, gases are given off. These gases may go off invisibly when the warming is slow, by evaporating at the surface; but when the warming is more rapid,

bubbles of gas collect on the walls of the containing vessel, or may rise up through the water.

If you watch fresh water heating in a kettle, a great many bubbles of gas will be seen rising, and they get larger as the water approaches the boiling point, as then the gases contain much water vapor. Finally, when boiling begins, all the gases are removed, and after a short time, pure steam comes off.

OTIS BROWN.

In reply to the letter regarding "odd-eyed" cats and kittens, I am glad to tell you that this condition is not a disease, many kittens, especially white ones, being born with this peculiarity.JANE R. CATHCART.

EMPTY ROBIN'S EGGS IN A NEST IN WINTER NEW YORK CITY, N. Y. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Yesterday my brother and I were out walking, when we found a robin's nest. It was in a shrub three feet from the ground, and had three eggs in it. We were surprised that a robin should be nesting at this time of the year. When we looked at the eggs, we saw that there was a hole in each one, and that they were empty. As there were several cracked nuts lying near the eggs, we think that a chipmunk, or squirrel, must have robbed the nest. But how could the eggs keep such a long time without breaking? They were so near the road that any one could have seen the nest. Will you kindly tell me how late the robin nests? Your interested reader,

If cold, fresh water has been left standing in a warm room for some time, the gas bubbles often form inside the glass as the water gradually becomes warmer. The bubbles sometimes look bright from reflection, so that they might be compared to salt in appearance.

GLADYS E. LIVERMORE (age 12). The work of red squirrels no doubt. Egg-shells often remain in nests until the following spring. -C. W. B.

TO SEE THE STARS IN THE DAYTIME

Los ANGELES, CAL. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have been told that if one is in a deep well, or looks through a long tube, or a pipe, he is able to see the stars in the daytime. I have never had an opportunity to try the experiment, and I would like to know if this is so. Do you see the same stars you see at night? If you do, do the stars turn around with the earth? This has puzzled me quite a little, and I shall be very grateful to know.

Your interested reader,

HELEN L. KNAPP.

Stars are in the sky in the daytime as well as at night. The only reason why we cannot see them by day is on account of the glare of the sky illuminated by the sun. Very little of this glare would be cut off by going down a well, and, consequently, we would be able to see from a well only the very brightest stars. For several days, at certain times, Venus is so bright that it can be readily seen during the daytime with the naked eye, if one knows just where to look for it. By means of a telescope, one can see the bright stars in the daytime.

Stars rise and set like the sun and moon, and for the same reason, because the earth is rotating on its axis. There are stars in every direction from the earth.-S. A. M.