The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1903-01-15
BEDS OF BIRDS AND BEASTS.

! BEDS OF BIRDS AND BEASTS.
COUcHES FOR BUTTERFLIES AND
SLEEPING PLACES CT FISHES.
How the Sparrow Roosts Wild and in
aptivity-Restina While Hanging
Upside Down-Drca cam!and Among
Animals.
We seldom realize how strong the
sentiment of home is among animals.
Not home in the sense Of the place
where the eggs or young ere cared for,
lut the spct which is selected as q
si1eping-place-where after long
days hunt or journey, the creature
may return and rest Itself.
Who would think of butterfly as
having a home? To see one of these
insects flying aimlessly from one
flower to another, memory of the place
where the previous night was spent
would seem improbable. And yet
many of these little creatures do re-
member and return night after night
10 the same spot. A alternating but
terEy was found one cold February
day, clinging with stiffened feet to the
under side of piece of bark on the
ground. Held in the fingers and ex-
alnined, it might have been a cabinet
specimen. for not the slightest sign OF
life was exhibited. The butterfly was
replaced, and a day or two later, when
"a thaw- made the air spring-lil1e, the in.
sect had deserted its winters bedroom
and was not to be found. The follow
ing day it returned, and when found
was quite limp, but speedily st!fenins
from the recurring cold weather into
the death-like trance of Information.
Fishes sleep, and very sorndiy too
Although they have 10 eyelids to close,
and no change can be detected in the
expression of the eyes, yet loss of con-
sciousless is proved by the lack OF
notice taken of clouds and other dis
turbing conditions. These creatures
have favorite resting places to which
they return again and again. In the
Pay CT Fundy at every incoming tide
fish return to certain spots, generally
inches in the rocks, and remain mo
ticnless. and probably asleep, for
hours. The exact location of each spot
chosen and recncsen, and the similar
!ty in the appearance CT the fish oc-
cupants, would seem to warrant the
assertion that they were the same indl-
viduals.
Sparrows generally rocst singly in
summer, returning night after night to
the same beam or shutter. In winter
they band together, and in a city will
sometimes come from blocks around
and perch by thousands in one tree.
the weight CT the birds bending the
branches, and the mingled chirps max
Ing a deafening chorus before sleep
guiets them.
The little marsh wrens, whose nests
are so numerous in reedy swamps, are
very fond Of bedrooms, and while the
female is sitting on her eggs, the
energy of the male bird, when not bub-
bling over in song. is expended in the
construction if additional nests, some
Of which he may make use of for sleep.
Ing purposes.
In captivity birds have many curl
Gus ways of sleeping which must hint
Of wild habits and causes unknown to
us. We can understand certain par
rots clinging with feet and bill to the
sides of their cages, as it is known
that when wild they spend the nights
in hollow trees, hanging to the rough
ened crevices Oh the inside. But even
jays ard some sparrows will sleep
soundly supported on the perpendicu-
lar wire by their toes alone. When
number of different kinds of birds are
Eept in one cage, each species is al
ways to be found by itself at night
thrushes in one row, mocking birds in
another, song-sparrows on their own
individual twig, and so on.
Animals often have dreams, and
not a few have nightmares monkeys
and birds especially. A bird will be
sleeping quietly, when without warn
ing it will start from it's perch, dash
against the wires, calling loudly, and
awaken every bird within hearing.
Finally it drops painting to the floor,
trembling with fright, and several
minutes pass before 1t quiets down
and goes to sleep again.
Birds have pleasant dreams as we'll,
and at midnight have heard the plain
tive, dreamy notes of the white-throat-
ed sparrow. In the woods, when one
brushes against brush little Mary
land yellow-throat has chosen for its
bedroom, the bird will instantly begin
to sing a few sleepy measures of it's
ditty-wichity-w y-witchity-witch.
A scent. either welcome or terrify.
ing, will awaken many animals quicker
than sound or other causes. A fox
Gen, filled one moment with round,
sleeping bundles of fur, will, second
later show every fox on its feet, with
trembling. wrinkled noses shifting the
wind which happens to blow from a
nearby pheasant aviary. A deer in
deep slumber will leap to it's feet at
bound when a sudden change in the
breeze tells of wolves over the next
hill. The sleep of animals and their
bedrooms holds much of interest, of
which we yet know little.-C. William
Beebe, in the New York Post.