THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2672, 31 May 1905, Page 68

THE NATURALIST.

A Clever Mouse. — Here is a story of a mouse which was as persevering m overcoming its difficulties as was King Robert oi Scotland's spider. During the digging of holes tor i\e\v York telegraph poles not long ago the workmen noticed a mouse which had fallen into one ,of the cavities. For hotirs the tiny -prisoner raced frantically around the enclosure. Tnen it seemed to get over its hysterics, and set its wits to work. Soon it began systematically to dig a spiral grove, round and round the inner surface of the hole, which vras several feet deep. Night and day the husy little creature worked away, digging little pockets here and there as its improvised staircase got farther from the ground, so that it might rest from its hard labours. The workmen kept it supplied with food, and after the third day the indefatigable little creature reached the top, and enthusiastic cheering welcomed its freedom. The Camel's Larder. — The camel's hump is its larder, which is stored with fat, so ag to enable the animal to go for a very long time without food. Before an Arab sets out upon a journey, he always carefully examines his camel's hump ; if it is big and firm he goes, but if it is small and shrunken he stays at horne — he dare not venture unless the creature is in. good condition, as a breakdown in the desert would probably mean deaHi to both. As the camel can draw upon the fat contained in its hump larder to make good its waste of flesh, so it can draw water from cisterns with which its stomach is provided. Its stomach contains a series of deep pockets, 12 in number, which the camel can further expand if necessary. These pockets hold as much as four or five quarts of water. When full the mouth of each pocket can be closed, so that the food which enters th& stomach does not mix with the wate.r store. When" the camel wants to use the water it can draw it out of the pockets by muscular effort. — Little Folks, for February. Foxes and Wild Cats. — Despite every effort to secure their total extinction, (says the Glasgow Weekly Herald of March 11) foxes and wild cats are still fairly numerous among the rugged fastnesses and secluded corries of the Highlands. A rabbit trapper ▼•orking on the farm of Oroick, the property of Sir Charles Ross, of Balnagown, succeeded in capturing a. fierce-looking cat of the largest size. It was beautifully marked, and in magnificent fur, and measured 4ft lin from the tip of its nose to the 'end of its tail. Within the last five weeks Mr John M'Leod, gamekeeper on the Dorusduan deer forest, Kintail, has trapped seven fullgrown foxes, and also a splendid specimen of the wild cat. This performance is said to create a new record for Ross-shire. A sum ranging from five to ten shillings is paid on the majority of Highland estates for each fox destroyed, while five or six shillings is generally obtained for a good fox skin. Fox-trapping should, therefore, prove a profitable pastime to many keepers. Secreted Safeguards. — A large number of plants have defences for repelling intruders on the vegetable domain, ranging from glutinous secretions to bitter, tastes and odours, aromatic or disagreeable to birds and other plant visitors. Examples of thk class are of unusual interest. The bloom on. fruits produced by a fine layer of wax is protective, preventing dew and rain from staying on and rotting them, in addition to safeguarding them from the evaporation of the internal juices and the lodgment of moulds and microscopic fungi. Many plants secrete tannin, and finu this an efficient protector ; even the acorn and beech nut in some measure have this form of protection. The secretion of silica, found in inordinate quantities in sonic plants, can be nothing else than a defence. PeVhaps the part richest in silica amongst the grass family are ihe chaffy grumes, whose object is to protect the seed from animals, and afeo in some cases to bury it in the ground when, it falls, a process accomplished in a remarkable manner. As may he surmised, plants of various species are called upon to resist incessantly the attacks of hunting squirrels and every variety of the monkey tribe. • Courage of the Boar. — No sport in the world is more thoroughly enjoyable than boar-hunting', or pig-sticking, as it is done in India, for this is the pluckiest brute on earth. No beast has more courage than he ; in fact, an old wild boar 'knows no fear, not even of a tiger. The wild boar never loses his head — or his heart ; such courage I have never beheld in any four-footed creature. He has all the cunning- commonly accredited to the devil, and in his rage ig a demon that will charge anything of any size. I have seen a small boar w_prk nis way through a pack of dogs, and~liia smaller brother — the peccary, in Brazil — send a man up a tree and keep him there. The boar looks ungainly; but the Indian species is fleet as a horse for about throequarters of a mile. Ho begins with flight, shifts to cunniner, and finally stands -to "the fight with mao-nificent courage, facing any ' odds. As, ruling upon him. you are about to plant, your spear, he will dart — "jink." as thoy call it in India— to one side, re-

peating the performance several times, un> til he finds he cannot shake you, when, turning suddenly, with ears cocked and ey-ea glittering, he will charge furiouslyIf not squarely met with a well-aimed and firmly-held spear, he will upset both horse and rider. Hurling himself again and again against the surrounding spears, he will keep up his charge until killed, when he dies without a groan. — Outing.