New, Odd and Interesting.

Waipa Post, Volume VIII, Issue 377, 22 December 1914, Page 1

New, Odd and Interesting.

The smallest humming bird weighs 20 grains.

Female frogs have no voice; only the males can sing.

The highest mountain in Europe is Mount Blanc, 15,732 feet.

'All birds that live on seeds are furnished with strong gizzards.

Wild birds do not sing more than eight or ten weeks in the year.

A gallon of alcohol can be produced from a bushel of sweet potatoes.

The cabmen of Paris are forbidden to smoke pipes while driving a fare. (

About 1,000 servants are attached to the Royal household of Great Britain. ’

The world’s navies number 2,291 war vessels.

Two-thirds of the Spanish population can. neither read nor write.

Whales are never found in the Gulf Stream.

Diamonds have been discovered in fallen meteors.

A pint of milk produces- about an ounce of butter.

A flea’s mouth ,is placed exactly between his forelegs.

Single women, as a rule, live longer than single men.' ,

In proportion to its size Belgium has more miles of railway than any other country in the world. J

The number of people at present who speak English is said to be 116,000,000.

In the number of murders Italy leads Europe. In the number of suicides Russia is ahead. ,

Nearly all the residents of Montreuil (France) are engaged in the manufacture of dolls’ heads. •' ,

Snakes and other reptiles are the only animals which seem to he, able to exist without drink.

A chasm thirty miles in length has been excavated by the waters of the Grand Falls of Labrador. .

Nineteen and a half stone is the ordinary total weight carried by a British trooper’s horse.

In all our wars we have won the splendid average of S2 per cent, of the battles. This is the.world’s record.

There are twenty-seven Royal families in Europe, two-tliirds of which aie of German origin.

Cliinese scholars claim that iron —swords were in use in their country 4,000 years ago. ' ,

When opals are first taken from the mine they .are so soft that they! can.be picked to pieces, with the finger-nail. Thirteen was the sacred number of the Mexicans and the ancient people of Yucatan. Their week . had thirteen days, and they had thirteen snake gods. The gray buzzard is said to be tlio heaviest bird that flies,’ thC'yb’ilng males when food is plentiful weighing nearly 40 lbs. The bird is almost extinct. The forests of Cuba occupy about 13,000,000 acres, and many of them are so dense 1 as to be ; almost impenetrable. In Stockholm the street-car conductors sell hatpin protectors for a halfpenny apiece to all women who wish to buy.