The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-27
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Some singular exceptions are found to rules
generally deemed absolute, and remarkable
ones have recently been noted in connection
with theories recently established in connec-
ton with the relations between flowers and
insects. Flowers have to be fortified by pol
len before they can be productive Most
flowers have stamenS or pollen bearing organs
and piStils the reproductive organs, in the
same flower but these separate organs, ma
turing at different times the wind or insects
are agents for carrying the fertlllzlng pollen
to other flowers than those which bear 1t.
This is known as crosS-fertilizatton. Those
flowers only which require the aid of insects
have color or fragrance. This Is said to be
an arrangement for attracting insects and in
surfing crossfertilization by their aid. But
the exception comes in the case of willows,
which are in bloom in early spring, and often
commonly known as pussy cats, Though
in the class fertilized by the wind they have
bright golden color and delightful fragrance,
and the philosophers are at a loss to under
stand what this exception means
To the students in ethnology the Esqui-
maux afford unusual interest, especially
those of the coast of Greenland.
Comparatively speaking, says the Philadel-
phia Press modern settlers in that frigid
region, they have many OF the characteristics
of the people Of the stone age, yet their build
and facial outlines indicate MOngolian origin.
They have many customs of peculiar interest,
not the least among which Is remarkable
reluctance to pronounce their own name be-
fore stranger. If white man meets
family and asks the head thereof his name,
his wife will probably answer for him, or
vice versa. II child be asked its name,
both parents, if they are present, will reply,
while the little one will stand dumb. If but
one EsQuimauX is about, and the same queS
ton be put to him he will look about in a dis
tresSed way, as though seeking some one to
give the desired information, and endeaVor to
evade the query until a member Of the tribe
comes up to answer 1t for him, II pressed,
and no other course is left him, he will tell his
name, but with marked reluctance. On all
other subjects, except their spiritual beliefs,
they will converse with volubility and do
their best to impart information.
I do not care to dispel pleasing illusions
for any one, said Marvin Page to a St. Louis
Globe Democrat writer, but sometimes the
fact is of decided interest. wonder if the
facts about the ethereal blue were generally
known, would it seem less ethereal or give
less JOY to the poetic nature to look at? PEG
pie imagine that all the beyond is light and
that they might rise away from the earth up
and ever up; always surrounded and over
hung by the gorgeous canopy of blue, which
fills the dulleSt nature with supreme SatiSfac-
ton of a bright sunny morning. The blue of
heaven has been the theme OF poetic Htera-
ture ever since the world began or shepherds
tended sheep on the hillsideS. AS a matter
of fact, the blue wee Sc is only an inch deep
when compared with the earth II is
not or the sky Op of infinite
space, but of the air we breathe, that is blue.
A small portion of air is colOrless, but when
we look out through forty miles of 1t we
have the heavenly blue which is its distinct
color. Any one who has assembled live miles
above the earths surface and has looked
heayenward remembers that the sky appears
of dark. iuky hue, and the higher one might
go the blacker would become the surrounding
space. until utter darkness would enVelOp one
at the hight OF 800 miles up. This darkness
results from the lack of reflection and dis
persion of light. At the hight even of five
miles one may look down and observe that the
blue is below and not above as the bottom.
Still the blue is just as beautiful as before,
and since we live under il we may well afford
to enjoy it.
At this season of the year North American
birds are busily engaged at love making, pre-
paratory to mating and nest building. In an
exhaustive article on the Lives and Loves of
North American Birds" in the current num-
| Der of the Nineteenth Century, John Worth
gives the following amusing description of
the remarkable preliminary courtShip of the
quail commonly known as the prairie
chicken After the disappearance OF the
snow he says, and the coming of the
! warmer weather the prairie chickens sharp
. tailed grOuse) meet every morning at gray
| dawn in companies OF from six to twenty. on
| some selected hilloClx or knoll, and indulge in
| the dance. At first the birds stand about in
ordinary attitudes, resembling people at q
| ball before the music begins, when suddenly
| one of the cocks lowers his head, spreads out
/ his wings nearly horizontally and his tail
| perpendiCularly. dlstends his air snCs and
| erects his feathers, then PUSHES across the
floor, taking the shortest of steps but stamp
| ing his feet so hard and so rapidly that the
| sound is like that of the kettle-drUm: at the
| same time he utters q sort of bu5bling crow
| which seems to come from his air sacs. beats
| the air with his wings and viDrates his tail
| so that he produces a loud, rustling noise, and
| thus becomes d really astonishing spectacle.
| Soon after one commences all the cocks join
| in. rafting stamping, drumming, growing
| and dancing together furiously; louder and
| louder the noise, faster and faster the dance
! becomes until at last they madly whirl about,
| leaping over each other in excitement. After
| a brief spell the energy of the dancers begins
| TO abate, and shortly afterward they cease
| and stand or move about very quietly, until
| they are again started by one OF their number
| leading of, as human dancers are observed to
| do during the intervals of rest between their
| performances. The whole operation reminds
| the looker-on so strongly OF Creek dance as
TO suggest the possibility of its being the pro
| totype of the Indian exercise. The space oc-
! cupied by the dancers is from fifty to one hun
| bred feet across. and, as it is returned to year
! after year the grass is usually worn off and
the ground trampled down hard and smooth.
| Dancing is INDUCED in at any time of the
| morning or evening in May, but it is usually
at its hight before sunrise"