THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2051, 15 June 1893, Page 48

THE NATURALIST.

Utilising Town Rats.

The town rat, which of all animals is generally considered tbe one most outside of our affection, is converted into a useful member of society in the French capital. Here these creatures are collected together and placed in the great pound where the oarcase refuse of the city is thrown. These remains are quickly demolished by the rats, who leave only untainted skeletons or bones behind them. The demolishes are, in their turn, destroyed themselves. Four times a year a great battue is effected, and when next the little creatures appear, it is in the form of that article of world-wide admiration—the Gant de Paris ; indeed, no skin is superior to theirs, the pliability and strength of it rendering it the most suitable for the glove market.

Helpless In Water.— lt is said that the ape and the camel are the only quadrupeds which cannot swim.

Fatal Curiosity. — An antelope is as curious as a woman. If the hunter will lie down in the grass and wave a red handkerchief a band of antelope will keep circling around until within reasonable distance for a safe shot.

The Humming Bird.— Ornithologists say it is a general rule of Nature that the smallest birds lay the greatest number of eggs ; but in the humming bird this rule is reversed. It only lays two eggs, which are white, round, and the Bize of peas. The tiny bird is so fearless at the time of nesting that it has been known to attack and blind a person when searchiog for its eggs. Monkeys at Play.— The monkeys of India have a game like the English boys' 11 king of the castle," but instead of pushicg each other from the top of a knoll or dustheap, the castle is a pendant branch of a tree. The game is to keep a place on the bough, which swings with their weight as with a cluster of fruit, while the players struggle to dislodge one another, each as he drops running round and climbing up again to begin anew. An Accommodating Hobse.— Of the numerous interesting natural history anecdotes that have been related by the late sincerely-regretted Rev. F. O. Morris was one of the farm boy who was too small to mount the plough horses, and who had actually taught one of the team to put down its head to the ground and allow him to get astride its neck. The horse would then gently 'elevate its head and let the bpy slip on to his seat on its back. Mr Morris used to say there was no dou'ot the animal perfectly understood the wi&hes of the boy and the use of loweriag its head for the purpose of his mounting.