Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-10
tcopyrIght By James Elversonl

IKE nature are there found more Won
A derfully beautiful or much more
IQe610l grotesque forms than among the
SssSs@ birds. Here is one all grace and
color; there one distinguished by clumslnesss5
ana oddity. Some seem all body; others all
wing; others again all beak or tail some
are dd1 mounted high on long, thin stills; others
"audle on webbed feet as short as tilppers.
i, wonderful birds, indeed! they are all won
a1erful. 1l. The fabled Roc of the Arabian
iM.,ights that great white bird which could
M. an elephant and carry it to its noun
taln nest, there to devour it at its leisure
,,lnn mas uoubless q myth, while we must nos
pace implicit reliance on the accounts gwen
ol the great Madagascar bird, which the ma,
lives assert could knock down an OK and
then make meal of it.
these fictions were, however, founded on
some considerable degree of fact. Among
eAtlnct birds there were undoubtedly some
monsters. the strength of which might wei
nave nave been two or three times greater than
that OF any now known to exist. FOSSIL
egg Of the Epiornis, the bird last mentioned,
was as large as six ostrich eggs, and It's ca
paclty at least fifteen pints, while from sucn
remains of the bones as have been discovtr-
ed, 1T IS believed that the creatures helght
was as much as ten OF twelve feet. NOT Is II
absolutely certain that it is extinct; the ma
tlves OF Madagascar assert that some few re-
presentatves still exist in the little known
interior of their island.
The same is believed to be possible regard
ing the Moa of New Zealand, for the bones
discovered were yet rich in gelatine, and had
Dry flesh adhering to them.
Inc power of flying possessed by almost
all birds in more or less perfection is their
most distinguishing quality.
Ihe tieetest quadruped known does not ap-
aproach the speed of certain birds, while 1T
soon succumbs to the fatigue. they hardly
seem to experience at all. Three or four
hundred miles in one fight is nothing extra
ordinary for the artifcially-bred carrier or
passage. pigeon.
Audubon tells us that wild pigeons have
been killed in the neighborhood of New York
with their crops still full of undigested rice,
which they. could not have obtained nearer
than the fields of Georgia and Carolina
SIX hundred to seven hundred miles distant
AS they can digest such grain entirely in
Twelve hours, that great naturalist calculated
that they must have flown through the named
space at the rate of a mile a minute.
Ihe 'homing' instinct of the carrier pigeon
is very beautiful, and equally mysterious. The
probability of any bird which can fly to a
great height. and SO survey the country all
around, finding its way home for any moderate
distance, will be understood, but this does not
explain the unerring instinct of pigeon TAX
en- In closed basket hundreds of miles from
its cote. And yet it returns thither more GER
tainly than does The skilled mariner to an
oft-visited port.
Pigeons were employed in early Egyptian
uoyo, uoNiSiIols taxing theIn on Cnelr gaiey5
and Iberating them when they arrived at the
port of destination, in order to announce
their safe arrival to their friends or employ
ers. The Romans utilized them in communi
eating with each other in war time, just as
was done during the late siege of Paris, and
very notably at the terrible siege of Leyden
in 1874, when the Prince of Orange managed
to carry on correspondence with the be-
leaguered citizens by their aid
A falcon which strayed from Fontainebleau,
near Paris, IN pursuit of some other bird, was
found next day at Malta, in the Mediterran-
can. Another falcon is said to have returned
from Andalusia, Spain, to the peak of Ten
eriffe in six hours.
There is some doubt as to the fight of the
eagle being as rapid as many would make it,
but it is yet known that the swiftest hare
has no chance with it in regard to speed.