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ing when the existence of the great bardic order as a corporate body was threatened. While thus engaged, Columba always returned in the intervals to the loved monastery at I-colm-kill and resided there altogether during his last years. Very soon after their erection, the original community buildings proved too small to enclose all who came thither, attracted by their founder's holiness and the desire to follow in his footsteps. Modern research attributes to the mother-foundation at Iona the existence in Scotland of many churches, each with its monastery attached. Traces of many of these churches may still be found in the mainland of modern Scotland and in the Western Isles, and, according to Montalembert, the most enlightened

ministry passed swiftly by, many besides intending neophytes journeyed to I-colm-kill to seek counsel and spiritual enlightenment of the holy man, whose fame now extended to distant lands. Hither came kings and fishermen, prelates and monks, men and women of high and low degree, but whatever their station, none left Columba's presence without receiving something of that supernatural life which in him, as in all God's saints, ever burned luminously-a light unto the souls of men. Truly, as the Psalmist declares, "it is good to sing praises unto our God," "who maketh His ministers a flaming fire."

Always eager in his all-embracing charity to succor the sin-laden, broken

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itude and consideration for the brethren in the daily relations of the community life. However, though thus evincing extreme gentleness and sympathy towards all worthy such a bearing, it must not be forgotten that to the very end Columba remained dauntless and energetic of action whenever there was an injustice to be set right or an outrage to be punished with severity and promptitude.

The account of our saint's final fading heavenward is deeply touching. It appears that Columba, having received a revelation that his course was nearly run, asked to be led up the "little hill," "the abbot's knoll," from whence all Iona can be seen, with the blue waters beyond, so often anxiously scanned for the first glimpse of his returning missionaries. Here, gazing for the last

the kings and people of the Scots, but by the rulers of barbarous and distant nations, with their people also. In great veneration, too, shall it be held by the holy men of other churches."

After this prophetic benediction he spoke but once, counselling his community to ever observe in all things charity mutual and sincére, love of God and of their neighbor. Then, hastening to the church, the aged abbot bent in supplication before the altar, while his brethren gathered about "weeping as one man at sight of their dying father. Columba opened his eyes once more, and turned them on his children on either side with a look full of serene and radiant joy. Then he raised, as best he might, his right hand to bless them all; his hand dropped, the last sigh came from his lips; and his face remained

calm and sweet like that of a man who in his sleep had seen a vision of heaven."

So lived and died Columba, powerful of intellect, holy of soul, fired with burning zeal through all the strenuous and varied labors of his long, prayerful life. He was not merely a great apostle and monastic founder, but, above and beyond

all these, a friend and benefactor to all men. An intensely positive character, whose growth and development it is rarely helpful to study, because we see * Montalembert. loc. cit.

therein revealed one who, like the very least of us in many ways by nature, imperious, intensely selfish, proud, little disposed to prayer and heavenly things, yet pressed steadily on in the narrow. way, and at last by loving and generous obedience to the Divine Guidance so

completely gained the mastery over these weaknesses and evil passions that he could say with his great prototype, St. Paul, "I live now not I, but Christ liveth in me," to Whom be the praise and the glory.

The Old Apple-tree

By Katherine L. Daniher

Adown the bright path to the dear long ago,
Though my footsteps no longer may stray,
My heart wanders back through its mazes to-night,
And the mists of the years roll away.

Once more through the sweet-scented clover I roam,
Where sounds the low hum of the bee;

And I hear the gay voices of dear ones who played
In the swing 'neath the old apple-tree.

The bloom-laden branches bent lovingly low

To shelter our leafy retreat,

And softly the petals came fluttering down.

In pretty pink showers at our feet.

The robins would build in its wide-spreading boughs
A home for their birdlings, so wee-

What sorrow was ours when they taught them to fly
From their nest in the old apple-tree!

Oft father would boast of its wonderful growth
From the sapling he planted. For him

Each bough held a memory that breathed of the past,
Ere the light of his youth had grown dim.

In fancy I see him at eventide seek

The rude bench 'neath the tree he loved best-
Oh, the wind seemed to sob through its branches the day
When they bore him away to his rest.

In dreams I behold the low, weather-stained cot
With its vine-covered porch at the back;
'Twas rich in its store of contentment and peace
That the mansions of wealth often lack.
Dream faces I knew in life's May-time so sweet,
Seem smiling a welcome to me,

Far away from the cares of the world and its strife
In the shade of the old apple-tree.

T

The Parasitic Cuckoo

By O. H. LATTER

HE name "cuckoo" is derived from the note of the male of the common European cuckoo, which, although monotonous, is usually heard with pleasure, being associated with all that is delightful in returning spring. The common cuckoo is very widely distributed, as it is found. all over Europe, in India and in Africa. The American cuckoos are a different species, whose habits are like those of other birds, and are in no way peculiar.

The cuckoo appears in Great Britain in April or May, and all the older members of the cuckoo family are believed to migrate southward before the middle of August. The adult cuckoo of Great Britain is about a foot in length, ashygray in color, with black wings, the tail being black slightly marked with white. There is no pairing, no continued attachment of male and female with these strange birds, and the female after having laid an egg on the ground takes it in her mouth and deposits it by means of her beak in the nest of some small bird, leaving the egg to be hatched and the young to be fed by the owners of the nest. The egg is very small for so large a bird, no larger than a sky-lark's. The number of eggs laid in one season by each female has not been accurately ascertained. The young cuckoo, soon after being hatched, acquires size and strength enough to eject from the nest any eggs or young birds-the true offspring of the foster-parents-which may remain in it, and the queer creature seems restless and uncomfortable till this is accomplished. It works itself under them, and then jerks them out by a motion of its body.

The cuckoo's note, even at its best and

clearest, gains much by being heard from a distance; at close quarters it seems to have a decided coarseness and an aggressive bullying tone. To Englishmen generally, it is said to have an air of abandon and irresponsibility; to a host of little birds it is the premonitory knell of murdered children and disappointed hopes. Is it possible that they are aware of the wreck of their home which so surely follows the visit of a cuckoo? What is the meaning of the angry crowd that may sometimes be seen mobbing a cuckoo? Is he (or she) mistaken for a hawk, and if so, what is the consequence? In the silent warfare of Nature one feels that every organ, color, attitude and shape of each living creature is at some time of vital importance. Why does the cuckoo look like a hawk? one asks. The usual explanation, ingenious, no doubt, but unsupported by reliable evidence, is that Mr. and Mrs. Cuckoo work together in imposing upon other birds, and while the former plays the hawk in order to create a diversion, the latter avails herself of the opportunity of getting her egg into a previously selected nest.

The cuckoo habit is not unknown among other forms of life. There are bees which place their eggs in the cells excavated by their more industrious relatives, and it is a remarkable fact that the majority of these cuckoo-bees are, either in shape or coloring, and often in both, of a formidable appearance. Some are colored like wasps, others are conspicuously marked with black and white, and many possess so finely tapering a tail that everybody would credit them with exceptional stinging power. It can hardly be a mere coincidence that

cuckoo-birds and cuckoo-bees should both alike assume a more or less terrifying aspect. The facts point to the conclusion that in both cases the appearance has been brought into existence by Nature for the purpose of inspiring fear and respect among the enemies of the comparatively defenceless cuckoos, rather than of intimidating their victims. The cuckoo's plumage resembles that of the dangerous sparrow-hawk more than that of the milder kestrel.

Although a good deal is known of the ordinary habits of the cuckoo, there are nevertheless some important points upon which little has been ascertained. Most Englishmen believe that the mother-cuckoo lays her eggs in the nests of other birds, and assigns the honors of incubation and rearing of offspring to the foster-parents. The truth is, as has already been mentioned, that she never lays her egg in any nest, but deposits it on the ground, an act which has often been observed. Instead of flying around with the egg in her mouth. searching for a nest in which to put it, this strange mother evidently locates a satisfactory nest first, then lays the egg on the turf, and finally transfers it by means of her mouth to its resting-place.

Several well-authenticated instances are known of a cuckoo placing her egg in a newly-finished nest which at the time did not contain any eggs of the lawful owner, and there is abundant evi'dence to prove that the cuckoo occasionally removes an egg to make room for its own. A celebrated German authority (Dr. Rey) has repeatedly found that after the insertion of the stranger's egg the number of those of the foster parents is reduced by one or two. If the legitimate owners of the nest are at home when the cuckoo pays her call they strenuously resist the intruder, and sometimes with success, for the strange egg has occasionally been found abandoned or broken on the ground near the

nest.

Moreover, the discovery of numerous breast-feathers of the cuckoo, scattered around the desecrated home, is eloquent testimony to a valiant but probably vain defence.

In England there is a popular belief that the cuckoo's egg resembles in appearance the foster parent's, so as to escape detection. In many cases, it is true, there is a very decided likeness, both in color and in markings that is simply marvellous, and seems almost to demand deliberate choice by an artistically trained intelligence, or a power of producing any given color to order on seeing what was required. Both these suggestions are, of course, utterly absurd, and unworthy of serious consideration. It is, however, beyond contradiction that color-matching occurs sufficiently frequently to render mere coincidence an impossible explanation. It has been suggested that abnormal eggs are often wrongly attributed to cuckoos, but the texture and greater thickness of the shell will, as a rule, enable anybody to identify the cuckoo's egg in case of doubt; and if the egg, when taken, be at all far advanced in incubation, the young bird may be extracted without serious injury to the egg-shell, and then the curious conformation of the cuckoo's foot, two toes in front and two behind, will at once settle the matter, as woodpeckers are the only other birds that possess feet identical with these. "Abnormal" eggs are not found with any frequency in the nests of birds other than those which are unquestionably patronised by the cuckoo, and as there is no reason why cuckoo favor should induce "abnormality," it is almost certain that the great majority of reputed cuckoos' eggs are such in fact. The range of color and of marking is quite extraordinary; some eggs are white with small black spots, others dull gray mottled with brown or red spots. Others, again, are perfectly blue, or blue with a few freckles.

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