Naturalist

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 367, 21 May 1903, Page 7

Naturalist

\ !«J S^SN4JfrKA ; eiiJG;" SfIg!I?ARISTANS have a new summer 9165 s P orfc< Ifc is snail.racing. While Aw: ,~- fl °t, : Suite Mm exciting,, as horse; - . racibg,-it has the "advantage: of being enjoyed a$ 'cafes, or laky place without ffioviSg;.fronx one's chair.. Theyi began riy 'organising races between rails, handicapping the fleetest by putting a weight on his hack. Then they tried to find out how ; much weight a i«nail can ca*ry, but is ifr was difficult to fasten weight on the animal's back they harnessed a snail to a little doll's carriage,by means, ,of ~a, wire ond a strip of paper'pasted to the shell. The result was surprising. The snail moved the carriage loaded with a weight of more than eight pounds! The next development of the new : sport w*as a number"''of animalß haTfiessed to the same vehicle. This arrangement did not work, for the animals would not ' pull t°Bpther,':and so:their force was wasted. A woman suggested the use of indiarubber bands fer harness, and this proved to be a great improvement. .It was found that five or six healthy snails could draw twenty.five pounds nearly a foot. Most surprising result of all, small boys weighiag fifty pounds are used as jockeys, seated in a baby carriage. Fourteen to twenty snails usually succeeded in drawing this load about three inches ever a level asphalt road in aquarter of an hour* A REMARKABLE HORSE. The following advertisement appeared in a recent number of a German army journal:—;'l offer for sale my handsome, gentle, Eeven-year-old horse, with which I have been experimenting for the purpose ft ascertaining to' what extehtj the intellect can- bfc developed >m anfmais. He; car 4 distinguish,- ten colors, he can" rea|l, fcur points of the coin-' pass, and he. can count from one up "to ten.' The owner of this wonderful animal is a Berlin gentleman of large means, .who for years has spent most of bis time training horses. .";•■; THE COCKATOOS. All the world has heard of the audacious cockatoo, answering to the sobriquet of ■ Cookie,' who for many years was installed in solitary state in the Queen's dressing-room. But its screeching was a sore trial for the household generally, and a .home, was found, for it in the re* sideiice ofv.thc j kennel iharii The; bird which should not be confounded With! a still more famous one that lived many" years ago at Sandringham, a reputed relic from the Georgian era, would permit no familiarities fxceptfrom the- hands of its sympathetic owner, who would gravely Btroke its denuded poll and chide it for the dissolute habit it had of plucking out its feathers in summer time. Cookie used to amuse himself in a battle-royal of oratory aimed at the little green parrot 1 which was picked up by the "King;,one sale'in Trafalgar Square. j

r ;FOWLS{PLUCEING THEIR ■ '') \ FEATHEBS. This feather-eating trouble is a vice difficult to Cure.: It is chiefly due to hens.- For my part, I would get rid of the lot that are addicted to it, and start with some fresh pullets. The vice is by no means common, and more often than not is caused by the owner's own fault in not looking after them properly. The prime cause of it is idleness amongst the fowls. Perhaps there are too many in the run; if so,, they get huddled up in a corner, with nothing for them to scratch in, and then, slowly and surely, the habit commences. Give them plenty to 3 do, b'uy the corn so as to give them occupation in finding it, give plenty of clean water thr*e or four times a day in^hot; weather, and in an 'enclosed run $ in nine cases oufc'ibf tett'the habitis caused b? thirst. No unfailing remedy, has been "dißCQvered, but si little carbonate df poi&ah" in the 'drinking water may be found of benefit. ~«« ~-

'BIBD MUSIC, IN SPRINGTIME.

There is bo element ef wild life in this broad country ;of '[ ours which appeals- a'a strongly to our hearts as the song of the bird; Wo mayvalue the singer as a benefactor of humanity bebattse.it destroys our dangerous enemy, the devastating insect; indeed, it might be interesting to know what our condition would be at the end of a decade witnout the wild 'bird; certainly"' it would not be ; less than disastrous. Bat-on the whole we do not linger ever those facts which pjroye the beneficent ch'arateter'of the the musician and his song which attracts and holds our closest attention. He may eat his own weight in grubs and bugs from 'sunrise to eunßet, still he is the musician, and his gormand propiftsities.„.are„a c'dhiideratibn with üb. Beally, the little fellow's song is the expression of .his character, the spontaneous exuberance |of his ■wonderfully free lifef his poetic jlangaage, ijus-stbiy tcjid JjSxi song like an ,italiah opera, aad.why should- like Chattiest of all? " v : " r --•-""•