The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-11

ner OF the earth, such as the scarlet ibis OF
South America, the leadel bellied bustard
from the Cape OF Good Hope, the argus OF
India, with tail feathers four feet long and
bearing great eyes, parrots from Africa
and golden pheasants from Japan.
A SALMON FLY.
1t Is astonishing what a variety Of plumes
is required to compose such a small article
as q salmon fy. for example. Perhaps the
tail Of the counterfeit insect will be made
from the feathers Of the golden pheasant,
while the butt end OF the caudal appendage
will be formed from q bit of the red breast
breast of a crow from India. Adjoining
the tail, the hook, which serve as a skeleton.
is wrapped with a scrap OF yellow floss silk,
and about this is put yellow feather from
the huge-bIllei toucan OF Brazil. The front
part Of the body is OF black silk floss, ribbed
with silver tinseL Next, to represent the
hind legs, it is necessary TO wind
around the hook the hackle
or neck feather OF a cock, dyed black
while for the front legs is required the
shoulder hackle of a guinea hen This is
only the basis of the fly. for as yet the wings
are lacking. They are added with the
wing tip of the domestic turkey, covered
with the sword feather OF a peacock. A
few strands Of yellow and red macaw tail
give additional brightness to the effect. The
cheeks of the fly are made from the blue
wing Of the South American chatterer. and
the head is Of black ostrich feather. Flies
So elaborate as that cost SlS a dozen. OF
course there are endless variations in their
makeup. Cheap ores of comparatively in
expensive material would probably be quite
as effective lures but they would not satisfy
the luxurious taste of fancy anglers
EFFECTIVENESS OF BURNT FEATHERS.
One Of the oldest uses for feathers is to
recover women from fainting spells by
burning them. Probably their effective
ness for this purpose is largely imaginary,
but faith in their efficacy is widespread and
persistent. An ornitholoRist at the oonven-
tion mentioned the fact that sailors make
tobacco bags out of the skins OF the feet Of
the albatross. They also manufacture pipe
stems out of the radius wing bones OF that
great sea fowl. which are more than foot
long The wing bone of the wild turkey is
used for a whistle, with which sportsmen
initiate the cry Of the gobbler more aocu-
rately than is possible with any other instru-
ment.
The only birds beak that is useful in any
way is that OF the roseate spoonbill, which
Is employed as a handle for fans composed
of the spoonbilrs own feathers. Beaks are
ordinarily insensible TO feeling, but those OF
the snipe and woodoook are exquisitely
sensitive nervous probes, which, when in
serted into the ground three inches or more
perceive the presence OF a worm. The eye
of any bird possesses an optical popularity
which is very extraordinary. 1t has the
form OF an acorn and is kept in shape by
bony cup or ring surrounding it.
Inside of the back part of the
organ is an apparatus for the instantaneous
adaptation OF focus to any distance. For
| lack Of such a contrivanoe the eve Of a hui
man being requires an appreciable time to
change its focus from the distant TO the
near point, vice versa; but with bird it ia
different. For example, a humming bird
will see a flower a rod away and dart TO it
like lightning yet on reaching the bush
which bears the flower it is able to grasp
the twig with its feet with certainty, as II
could not do except for the peculiar ar
rangement described.