The bee., 1883-01-06
ELECTRIC WIRE ODDITIES.
HumminR Sounds Tint Affect Both Birds
and Beasts.-Why Woodpeckers and
Bears Are Drawn 70 the Poles, and
Wolves aud Elephants Arc Driven Away


With the rapid multiplication OF
overhead telegraph and telephone wires
there Is a growing opinion that 1t
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
Compafatively unimportantI but so far
as 1t goes it seems to favor a like con-
clusion. At the instance of the secre-
tary of the German postoilice, the
question of the injury done to the im-
perial telegraph lines by birds was
lately investigated by Herr Massmann,
who has since read paper on the SUBJ
iect before the Electrotechnio 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 rs roosting
places, while sttch birds us srarrows,
starlings and swallows nlight on them
in immense hocks. In tree
less country this arrangement, from
an avian point of view, is doubt
less admirable, aud the extension oil
ielegraphs through those districts has
probably Id to n considerable in
crease in the numbers of the pcrching
birds. Beyond the unsightliness Of
the lines caused by the fouling of the
wires, the perchlns Of those small
birds does not appear to do any prac.
tical injury. 1t is different, however,
" hen large birds, such as bustards,
storks, swans and wild ducks alight OH
the wirIs, their weight being usually
sufficient to bring two Of these into
contact. Wires have also occasionally
been found to break under the swing
ing III, ton impaired to them hy the
weight of these ponderous birds. Ere
quently, also, swallows seek to build
their nets under the caves where
wires run into telegraph Offices, and
thus som times IN "earth" contact il
esti,blisl ed.
1t is unfortunate that birds cannot
be intilGitat"d into leaving the telc-
graph wires alone in some such way
a5 that adopted by Mr.. Siemens. with
IN Asiatc tube, when erecting the
line of the 1nlO-Eur0pCan company
between Diulfa and TabrCez Finding
that the natives fanciCd the wire for
various purposes, he hit upon plan
of teaching them to respect it. He
found that at that time Of the year
--"dnr-stOrmS were of almost daily
occurrence, anG that during their con-
tinuanca, 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 Il 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 lie
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 lary8 of insects,
which they find under the bark or still
deeper in the wood of decaying 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 i'll
duced to make the telegraph pole the
scene of it's 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 exhibi-
tion 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 prOstrate
poles. Bruin, as is well known, is ex-
ceedingly partial to honey, and no
sound gives him more delight than the
humming of bees. 1t is not wonder
derful that the sound of the vibrating
Wires coming suddenly upon his ears
should suggest to him the close prox-
unity of a store of honey. Follow
ing the delusive sound" says NJ. Mel
sen, she at last arrives at the post,
where it is louder than ever, and as he
does not find the expected beehive, he
very naturally thinks it must be under
the heap of stones, and then having set
to work to scatter these in all directions
in order to find the dreamed-of treas
ure, he finishes, that he may at least
have the satisfaction of destroying all
the bees he supposes hidden inside the
post, by giving the latter tremendous
blow with his paw" The still more
remarkable statement is made that in
certain parts of Norway, after the
great telegraph system across the
mountain plateaus and along the prin-
cipal valleys was commenced twenty
years ago, wolves entirely disappeared,
and had not since returned. 1t is pos
Eihln thnt In thic nncn ntLor .nI,r..e