Tárogató, 1938-1939 (1. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)
1938-09-01 / 3. szám
TÁROGATÓ IS THE MOURNING DOVE. By Clayton H. Smith On a warm summer afternoon comes from the hawthorn trees the deep coo-oo—a-cooooo of the mourning dove. I know the melancholy plaint of this faithful lover now, but one time—it seems so long ago—I ran hastily from my grandmother’s orchard at its deep voice, exclaiming an owl pursued me. A few summers past a great wind rushed for hours over the fields and through the hawthorn thickets. Rain came in grey gusts. When the storm had subsided I went among the hawthorns to learn what harm had come to my mourning doves’ carelessly assembled nests. The structures could not be dignified with the term nests; they are but rude formations of coarse twigs. As I feared, a number of nests had been destroyed, the white eggs broken. One rickety, raft-like nest bore two eggs that soon were about to fall to earth. I fetched a six-quart fruit basket and attached this to the hawthorn, near by the nest. Next, I conveyed the crude nest materials and the two eggs to the basket. The white eggs were replaced in due time by nestlings and they were safely reared in a home that formerly had borne produce from the town marketplace. The parent birds seemed disturbed not at all by the new quarters. The doves are studied to best advantage as they dust themselves in country lane or roadway. You may then see the beautiful plumage and note they are about twelve to thirteen inches long. They appear smaller in flight. As they rise from the dust you may hear the peculiar sharp whistling of their wings. All summer long you may come upon the mourning doves at nesting duties. You will be fortunate indeed if you should discover a nest that bears two liquid-eyed babies and their mother caring for them. The young are slow to develop pov'er of flight and it seems a bit ludicrous to see her poised above two such grown-up children. The young are fed by regurgitation. IMPROVES TELEVISION. Clearer television pictures will result from the use of new television apparatus just patented by Francois Henroteau, a Belgian scientist, until recently on the staff of astronomers at the Dominion Observatory at Ottawa. The apparatus possesses a photo-electric cell screen, resembling the white screen used for motion pictures. The surface of the screen is composed of millions of tiny photoelectric cells, which transform light rays into electrical impulses. When light, varying in intensity according to the shadows of the picture, falls on these tiny cells, it charges them with positive electricity. These charges are released from the cells by a scanning beam of electrons, the beam crossing the surface in the same way the human eye reads a column of type. The electric currents are picked up in a wire attached to the screen, amplified and sent on to the receiving apparatus by wire or radio. At the receiving end, these impulses appear in the same sequence and thus form the television image. In a further invention, Henroteau has conquered the blurring which resulted from the photo-electric cells not “resting” sufficiently between the split thousandths of a second in which they work. It consists of a disk which, containing carefully spaced holes, is placed in front of the screen. Rotating, the disk allows the light to strike the cells, then cuts it off for the fraction of a second necessary to allow the cells to rest between each impulse of light. SWEEPSTAKES NOT FAVORED BY HOSPITALS. Statement issued by Canadian Hospital Council. In view of the recent reopening of the subject of sweepstakes for hospitals and the consequent publicity, it would seem in order to point out that the hospitals of Canada are themselves not in favor of this method of raising funds. Hospital workers need money badly, and would welcome a solution of their financial difficulties. They also appreciate the efforts of municipal officials and representatives to lessen the burden on their communities. However, they are overwhelmingly of the opinion, as expressed by their official spokesmen, that the adoption of sweepstakes would too seriously jeopardize the future of their work. The Canadian Hospital Council, which represents all the thirteen hospital asmu? FNr.i iqw cf/tion.
