THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2949, 21 September 1910, Page 76

THE NATURALIST.

Instinct of the Mother.

"If you want to get close to Nature." said the man who is fo.net of noticing things, "go to the country and keep your eyes open." Afjter telling in the New York Sim of a good tussle he had with a splendid trout, he continues:

"When I retraced my steps to the highroad and lay down upon the side of the thoroughfare I spread by trophy at full length on the grass and was gloating over him when I heard a fluttering on the edge of the stream just below where I lay. A hen partridge came out in, the smalll grassy square near ,the water and cluckjed and scolded like a common bamya.rd hen. She would rush down to the water's edge, keeping up a fire of shrewish pleadings directed in the direction of the thicket from which she bad emerged. She was the picture of a petulant mother as she rushed about, and presently one by one she was joined by 10 tiny chicks —the smartest little things you ever saw. "The mother was evidently finding fault about something, and I soon saw wbat the trouble was. After giving each member an individual rally, during which she ran among them busily, the old bird flew across the stream, wruch at that point was not more than a dozen feet wide From that point her scolding and pleading was renewed, and when there was no disposition on the part of any of her bioodi t!o follow her, back she went like a fury. "In and out among the chicks she ran with her wings down, -striking here and there, but always with veiled 'beak, in the endeavour to put courage into her children. Once mofe she flew across the brook and renewed her coaxing and cajolings. She ran the gamut of pleading, but the lesson had to be repeated again and againi until I marvelled' at her patience. "Finally one little fellow spread his tiny wings and after the hardest king of fluttering made the perilous passage. No human mother ever made more fuss over one of her youngsters than that partridge did. She cuddled him, and one by one under the renewed appeals of their mother and encouraged by the example of their brother the fledglings made the pas.sage. "When all were safely landed and had been praised for their courage by the now proud and happy mother there was a whirr from the depths of the bushes, and the cock bird made his appearance. He puffed out his throat and breast feather until I thought he would burst. Up and down he strutted, the personification of conceit, and as ,1 looked I couldn't heip thinking how much like the averago maio he was—on hand when the trouble and danger of the moment were over. The foolish hen, with her chicks nestling about her, looked proudly on.

"After watching the pretty play for s-orno time I whistled. The cock disappeared on eager wings, the mother spoke a sharp warning, which sent the chicks scurrying to cover. The little chaps disappeared as though by magic, hiding with that wonderful sagacity so well known to hunters and naturalists.

"Not so the mother, fos as I lose to mji feet she dropped a wing, ran in a widely, increasing circle away from where her young were concealed,' endeavouring to delude me into the belief that she had beeri Ihurt, and was ready to my hand in case I wished to pick her up. I walked toward her, and she' kept just far enough away to elude me, and, not, caring to distress her further, I picked up my trout and was at the inn by breakfast time. "Upon another occasion I was travelling through the Brazos River country in Texas and camped over night at the ranch of at horee-toreedeir who was moving from, one pasture to another. H had a couple of hundred marea with foals—at was

in the spring of the year and the ywung things were suckling, and it was an inspiriting sight to see the little beggars getting their breakfast in the morning prior to starting. "As the drive was in the direction in which I was journeying and the rancher was a companionable chap, I determined to pass the dav with him. It was shortly. • before noon when we reached the Brazos and I had my second obiect-lesson on the wonders and beauties of the natural -n----stinct. "It was an old story to the owner of the stock, as he had seen it time and again. The older horses plunged boldly in imdOT the spurs of the men, but the mares with th~ir foals halted at the brink. . 'Have you ever heard a mare nicker to her young? Well, you have missed something very soft and pleading,, a tender note that has .as much sweetness as the crooning of a mother as she bends over the cradle of her babe. This mothers note was the preliminary to the passage of the river, and after its utterance half a score of times :he dams plunged boldly in and began swimming. f "In most instances without a moments hesitation the little ">haps follow.ed their mothers, and it was when the current was breasted that the maternal instinct was demonstrated to its fullest extent. The babies were not strong enough to stem the swiftlv-flowing river, and they were being carried down the stream when in every instance the dams manoeuvred in the water until their progeny were "on the up" v ei' side and the steadily-flowing water held the little things tightly wedged against the mother's body, insuring a safe passage. "As they swam to safety the foals were encouraged by their mothers, who turned their heads 'now and then, whinny in,? softly, and to my mind saying as plainly as speech could enunciate, 'Bully for you ! Come on; it's only a little way now!' "

Cobra Stories

—Remarkable Experiences in Ceylon.— A writer in' the Ceylon paper Spolia Zeylanica tells the following interesting stories about cobras. He says: A delusion, which is often found in storybooks, is the power of fascination which cobras are said to exercis. towards birds. On the contrary, on at least two instances I saw cobras chased bv birds. One case happened in 1896, near Horana. I was returning to my camp abouT 3 p.m., when I saw a group of people at the top of a large breadfruit tree. I asked them what they were looking at, and they told me that a crow was fighting an intruder into its nest situated at the very top of the tree. The orow was circling at close quarters and pecking bard at the nest, cawing loudly all the time. The nest was at some 40ft above ground. Presently a snake came out of the rtest and started climbing down, the tree, with the crow in hot pursuit behind it, pecking at it, all' the time, the snake hissing hard at every blow. It took refuge about 10ft down in a clump of dead feme;. from which it was chased out by the crow, and it came from, branch to branch until it reached a large horizontal one, which stretched but about 20ft.

Here the snake was at great disadvantage, as it could not turn upon the crow. The latter seemed to know it, and its tactics were splendid. It would peck hard nea rthe spine close bo the tail and then peck near its neck. At each peck pieces of the snake's skin were torn, and the snake would stop; but as soon as it started moving the crow would peck at it agafcn with extraordinary surety of aim. After fully 15 minutes on the branch two large patches had been torn out of the snake, which was evidently getting exhausted. On a Sunday morning in Februa.ry, 1892, two Indian - snake-charmers came to my small bungalow at Ha.nwella. They hat! three snakes with them, and proceeded to make them dance as usual. I stopped them and told them that I had seen all that before, and asked them whether they could compel a wild snake bo dance, and, if so, whether they could catch one for the purpose. One of them expressed his wilingness to do so. Ten days previously A. had chased a cobra of the species called by the natives "Tom-tom beater"—i.e.. the black cobra, with a red spectacle mark on its hood. The Sinhalese, I believe, think that they are reincarnations of, low-caste natives; hence .the name. It is certainly fiercer and more active than the common brown cobra. I had noticed at the time tihat it had taken refuge in an ant hill near the edgo of the paddy field which formed one boundairy of the new clearing upon which my bungalow stood, and situated about 200t't from it. I led the charmer to this ant hill. "When I had assured him that a snake almost certainly occupied the hole he squatted down opposite to it and started blowing into a reed pipe, which gave a sound similar to that of a bagpipe. After a long time, and when I had almost given up the idea of the snake being there still, the cobra protruded its head about an inch out of the hole in order, presumably, to see what was going on. The charmer pounced upon it, and seizing the head of the snake between his thumb and two fingers so that it could not open its mouth, he pulled it out of the white ants' nest and brought it to the bungalow. He then tried to make it dance by holding a small piece of white? root above its head. The snake tried to escape several tines, but was brought back again and ultimately v;a i induced to dance with its hood extended; so far as I could judge it was the same snake that I had noticed before. I then asked the charmer v.-hat he would do if he happened to get bitten by a wild snake. He told me that he did not mind it, as he had a certain medicine which would prevent any ill-effects. I then, more as a joke than anything else, promised him five rupees if he would allow himself to be stung by the snake he had just caught, fully believing that he would never attempt the trial. But before I could stop him he had seized the snake by the neck and had thrust the forefinger of his right hand deep in its mouth ; and when he withdrew it there were two punctures on each side of the second joint. Both punctures were bleeding slightly.

He at once handed over the cobra to his comrade, who immediately shut him up into the snake basket, and the charmer presently took out from his waistcloth a piece of charred bone, well known as the snake stone, which he applied at once to the two punctures. He then waited for some minutes, and I could see the veins on tlho back of his hands standing out like knotted brings. After a couple of minut'fc or »o the stone dropped down, and he then_ toid |me that he 'had extracted all the ix>ison; and ""lUnor /.rw a, uiiuiil noooajxxit shell full of

milk he dropped the stop© into it; m » moment, after a considerabe amount of bubbling-, there came to the surface a certain amount of an oily-looking liquid, paie straw in colour. In order to test whether the wounds on his knuckle had been produced by the fangs, or whether they were due to scratching by the back teeth. I called for a small chicken, of which I had a certain number in my fowl run, and making a. small, incision on its leg, I dipped a feather into the oily liquid and rubbed it into the -n----oision. The chicken died within 10 minutes with all the symptoms of snake bite. 1 then paid the man the amount agreed upon. ■