The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-03-29
MORNING STAR AND CATHOLIC MEssxHaKR.
NEW ORLEANS. SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1868.
SCIENTIFIC, HIsroRIcAI. ETC.

D1nerehceS OF COlOr anu N1O1uCaC1On IL
Birds.n In some few species of birds the fe
males can boast of q plumage more beauti
full and brilliant than that of the male. Ii
cases where the female has this conspicu
GUS appearance, the nest always conceali
her, but in cases where the female is of g
portion of the sitting bird. When the male
bird is less brilliant than his mate, it il
found that he performs the duties of incuba-
ton. There seems, then, to be connection
between the color of the different sexes OF
BIRDS and the sitting over the eggs. Mr.
of natural selection most aptly explained
this connection of color and nests.
THE New FRENCH GAS LIGHr.-Our for
eign exchanges several weeks since, an
nounced an improvement in gas lighting
which had been discovered by two French
chemists and was about being introduced
into Paris. Great advantages ON the score
OF blllhancy Of illumination, and especially,
on that of economy, were claimed for the
new invention which, it was predicted,
would soon complete an entire revolution in
our present system Of gas lighting. Beyond
however, brief and unsatisfactory descrip-
lions, which indicated that the apparatus
embraced some notifications of the Drum
mond Light but failed to show the distin-
gushing popularity, the first Ineligible
account we have met with, is Just at hand.
Our authority states that the French Empe-
ror, wishing to satisfy himself personally of
the the! truth Of the facts regarding this new
moned the inventors to the Tuilleries, and
during two evenings the apartments of the
Imperial Palace were brilliantly lighted by
the apparatus.
T. FISH AS FooD.-The subject of the Guilt
walton OF fsh-the re stocking of ponds and
streams with varieties which have become
scarce and nearly extinct, and the value of
fISh foo hos hno <1,1~1
and generally discussed in the journals of
the day. 1t is a subject of very great inn
portance, and those public spirited men
who have engaged in the work ofreproduc-
ing valuable varieties of fish deserve much
credit for their endeavors. It is certain
that some varieties of fish, in their season,
are plentiful enough in the market to make
them cheap; but it is equally certain that,
compared with mutton, beef, and pork, they
are anything but cheap. Nobody who has
tried it believes that two pounds of fish at
twelve cents per pounda are equal III life |
giving qualities to one pound of beef at
twenty -four cents per pound. A soup made, |
even from the bones Of beef, mutton, pork |
or fowls is more "staying" than any clam,
oyster or fish soup that can be concocted I
saving the admixture in the latter of vege-
tables, bread, pork, etc. Fresh salmon costs
twice as much as beef steak, not alone be-
cause it is scarce and difficult to obtain, but
because it is nearly equal if not quite in it's
satisfying quality to beef. That scarcity of
the fish has nothing to do with its market
and smoked, it is as cheap as ordinary beef.
The true value of the movement of piscicul-
ture, now SO popular, consists simply in
this: Keeping the price of fresh fish, as IA
variety of diet, within such bounds as will
enable those whose means are circumscribed
to make an occasional divergence from their
daily menu. That it can ever supersede
flesh for food is a vagary which, as relates ,
to the people Of this country, might as well /
be dismissed first as last. ,
Grow RooST.-About seven miles from
Lexington, Kentucky, there is a remarkable
where, according to a recent
visitor, not less than q million of crows {
Sleep About four o'clock in the
afternoon they begin to arrive from all di-
rectiOns, entering the woods in long lines.
Each flock has it's leader, who flies over the
tree-tops until he finds his roost, when the !
head of the column alights, the rest circling
round and round and winding themselves
about their chief. Only few crows light =
on the same tree with the leader, which in :
dIcates that he is a sort of aristocratic per-
sonage who does not associate with the COM Z
mon herd, and that the persons who sleep =
high IN authority in the flock. Hundreds ;
roost on the ground for want of q limb; so 1
they do not seem likely to abandon their I
ancient home, for this roost is so old that
the Oldest inhabitant remembers not it's es- !.
The crows do not appear to L
fear human visitors, but the explosion of 8
gun produces the greatest confusion and y
distress. If startled out of their sleep they II
fly from tree to tree, and seem quite help n
less, losing in the nighttime all that cum v
ming which characterizes them in daylight. o
When the firing continues for any time they q
by into the open fields and there sleep un- n
til daylight. AS soon as the day begins to n
break they quit their roost and go no one e
knows where. 1t has been estimated that !.
a crow will fly hundred miles for his u
breakfast, and return after supper sand a
doubtless many OF the crows who sleep in Z
About the last of March they will leave .
+heir roost and scatter over the Northern | {.