Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-06-15
HUMMlNG BIRDS.

Points About Wonderful Little Flyer.
Our pretty little humming bird, the
ruby throat, said to be the sole New
England species, comes and goes with
the season, migrating to and fro for the
most part across the Gulf Of Mexico to
Yucatan, a water space 500 miles in
width. Wonderful observers, including
some professed natural5sts, have quer-
led whether such a diminutive little
fellow with supposedly weak powers OF
flight in proportion could travel such
long distances unaided. This doubt has
given rise to the superstition that the
woodcock carries 1t on its back, making
half the distance from Canada to the
gulf during the hours Of a single first
night, tarrying then for some weeks In
the latitude Of the cotton states, and
proceeding in the late fall on its final
flight to the tropics. In Europe the
stork is credited with rendering this
essential service, giving the humming
birds round trip transit across country
free Of charge. These impressions,
however, are altogether erroneous.
AS a matter Of fact, despite their d.
minutive size, hummers are strong fly
ers, and Prof. H. w. Henshaw, a noted
observer Of the United States bioloSi-
cal survey, affirms that the smallest Of
the species, the calliope, has no diff
Guilty in flying from Mexico to Alaska
and back again. Some humming birds
are known to make excursions to Is
lands fifty or sixty miles away and in
visible from the mainland, which shows
that they have plenty Of confidence In
their own wing power and no occasion
to call for assistance from bigger avi-
fauna.
While there are known to be some
thirty species Of humming birds In
Mexico and South America, and several
species on the Pacific coast, it is now
generally admitted by naturalists that
we have but single species in New
England, the contention that two had
been positively identified being aban-
doned when it was discovered that the
brilliant green variety claimed was but
the female of the ruby throat.
Right here may be a good place to
correct another prevalent error regard
ing the fireproof quality Of the sala-
mander, which both ancient and mod
ern literature have represented as be-
ing able to withstand degree of heat
which would quickly prove fatal to any
other form of life. Yet there Is some
thing in the notion. I have had my
self the most positive ocular evidence
that this interesting species Of lizard
could walk right into fire and not be
burned. But my eyes deceived me.
This tiny creature We know, like all Of
its kind, Is able to adapt its color to
its environment, and when In the pre-
cincts of charcoal burner in the Ten
nessee mountains l saw one Of them
assume a scarlet hue and walk right
into the cincture Of white ashes which
bordered the redhot Goals Of the wood
kiln. felt convinced that truth had
come to the support of allegory and
tradition. (Mind, I have not said that
l saw him walk into the f1ame) How
ever, to be positive, where such mo-
mentous issues were at stake, poked
the place where the lizard went In, and
almost instantly ousted him out, alive
and active. Like the three Israelites in
Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace. there
was no smell of fire on its cuticle. 1t
then occurred to me to test the temper
ature of its ash bed with my bare fin
ger, and found 1t quite tolerable, and
not at all disagreeable on a frosty
morning up in the mountains. 1t was
certainly secure hiding place from al
most any other creature than an in
quisitive naturalist. 1t was the last
place where one would think of looking
for anything but a roast.-Springfield
Republican,