Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-12-28
ELECTRIC WIRE ODDITIES.

Humming Sounds That Affect Both Birds
and Bensts--N7hy Woodpeckers aud
Bears Are Drawn TO the Poles, and
Wolvesand Elephants Are Driven away.
With the rapid multiplication Of
overhead telegraph and telephone wires
there is a growing opinion that it
would be better for man and not
worse for the wires that they should
lie underground. The influence Of
animal life on telegraph wires, and Of
the latter on animal life, is no doubt
comparatively unimportant; but so far
as it goes it seems to favor like con-
clusion. At the instance Of the secre-
tary of the German postofflce, the
question Of the injury done to the inn
perial telegraph lines by birds was
lately investigated by Herr Massmann,
who has since read paper on the sub
iect before the Electrotechnic society
Of Berlin. He finds that
in districts more or less
devoid of trees, the smaller birds of
prey, such as crows and magpies, have
taken kindly to the wires as roosting
places, while such birds as sparrows,
starlingS and swallows alight on them
In immense hocks. In a tree
less country this arrangement, from
an avian point of view, is doubt
less admirable, and the extension OF
telegraphs through those districts has
probably led to considerable in
crease in the numbers Of the perching
birds. Beyond the unsightliness Of
the lines caused by the fouling of the
wires, the perching Of those small
birds does not appear to do any prac-
tical injury. 1t is different, however,
when large birds, such as bustards,
storks, swans and wild ducks alight on
the wires, their weight being usually
sufficient to bring two of these into
contact. Wires have also occasionally
been found to break under the swing
ing motion impaired to them by the
weight of these ponderous birds. Fre-
quently, also, swallows seek to build
their nests under the caves where
wires run into telegraph offices, and
thus sometimes an "earth" contact is
established.
1t IS unfortunate that birds cannot
be intimidated into leaving the tele-
graph wires alone in some such way
as that adopted by Mr.. Siemens, with
an Asiatic tube, when erecting the
line Of the Indo-European company
between Djulfa and Tabreez. Finding
that the natives fancied the wire
various purposes, he hit upon plan
of teaching them to respect it. He
found that at that time Of the year
thunder-storms were of almost daily
occurrence, and that during their con-
tinuance, the line, being insulated,
was electrically charged by induc-
tion. This being so, he brought about
a great gathering Of the natives, and
then persuaded one of the chiefs to
mount ladder and touch the wire,
saying that the wire would defend it,
self. This it did, for on touching it
the chief received such shock that he
fell off the ladder, and from that time
forward the wires were regarded as be-
witched. and avoided accordingly.
In overhead wires the stability Of
the pole is of prime Importance, and
to prevent the rotting action Of at
mospheric agencies it is usual to have
them prepared with such substances as
creosote, sulphate Of copper and
chloride Of zinc. However well these
may resist the atmospheric agencies,
they do not seem to prevent the at
tacks of woodpeckers. These birds
feed chiefly on the larvae Of insects,
which they find under the bark or still
deeper in the wood of deeaying trees,
and in search of which they are con-
tinually sounding" the bark with
their powerful bills. In seeking their
food they are supposed by some to be
guided by the sound of the grub at
work within the tree, and it has been
surmised that the woodpecker is in
duced to make the telegraph pole the
scene Of its excavations by hearing the
well-known resonance produced in it
by the vibration of the wires, which
it mistakes for the welcome hum Of
insect life.
From an interesting note written by
NJ. Nielsen, of Christiania, and in
serted in the aforementioned exhibit
lion catalogue, it would appear that
woodpeckers are not the only animals
deceived-if deceived they are-by the
Eolian music Of the telegraph. He
had frequently observed high up on
the Scandinavian hillsides the piles of
stones used in fixing the telegraph
posts to the bare rock scattered about.
This he was unable to account for
until he detected the marks Of bears
claws on the frequently PROSTATE
poles. Bruin, as is well known, is ex-
ceedingly partial to honey, and no
sound gives him more delight than the
humming Of bees. It is not wonder
dnrf1,l that the sound Of the Vibrating