Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1097, 18 August 1871, Page 2

The publication of Mr Darwin’s last work is said to have caused a perceptible increase in the number of visitors to the monkey-house in the Zoological Gardens, London. Recently, on opening Yarmouth Townhouse, Massachusetts, it having been closed since the last annual meeting, it was found that a squirrel and her five young ones had taken possession of the ballotbox. The mother had made a nice nest among the ballots cast for selectmen and other town officers. ‘f J. D. S. L.,” writing to the Thames Advertiser, says:—“l see that the small 11 i til* I 1. • . 3 * j. _.. .

so-called ‘ blight bird is a mystery —as to where it came from and when. Allow me to settle the date of their debut in New Zealand. They alighted on a mountain twenty miles south of Mount Cook in 1866, on the 9ih of May, I was on the mountain when they alighted on the snow at an elevaiion of 7000 to 8000 feet above the sea level. The poor little birds appeared to be driven before the wind rather than come by any power of their own. They appeared to fall in millions, there were so many of them, and so helpless were they that a person could shovel them up in cart-loads. I examined a few of the dead ones, and could not find a particle of food in any of them. The wind was blowing from the south and by west, from which point they came—no doubt from some undiscovered island south of the Auckland Islands, One year after seeing them iu the South Island, I was surprised to fiud them as far north as Raglan.”

A MAMMOTH MAMMOTH. The Cincinnati Gazette, May 2, says: .—Quite an excitement has been created _f late in Clark County by the discovery 0 f the fossil remains of an unknown animal near Plattsville, on the road between Springfield and London. Some laborers engaged in digging a ditch on the farm of Alexander Poorman, last threw out sundry pieces of bones, which, however, failed to elicit their attention. Mr Poorman chanced to pass by the scene of their labors, and his dog brought up from the bottom of the ditch a fragment of bone which attracted his attention, and he caused further excava tion to be made, which resulted in uuearthing a part of the skeleton of a mammoth of gigantic and unparal leled proportions. Tw> tusks were discovered eleven feet eight inches in length. They bore the appearance of •having been broken off, and with the dissevered fragment must have measured full twelve feet in length. The diameter of the base was seven inches. Several teeth of the monster also found, measuring nine inches in length and as .thick as a man's arm. Two or three of the vertebra were also discovered, and our informant stated that he saw a man thrust his Ip.st through .the cavity formed by the decomposition < f the spinal marrow. The discovery of the remains caused as we have said, considerable ex .citement. Trains which passed Platts ville stopped to allow passengers to view •the remains. One or two scientific gentlemen have already visited the spot, but the place of the new fossil in the animal creation has not yet been assigned. Count Moltke, it is understo d, will visit England in order to be present at the great military gathering which is to take place on the Berkshire Downs next September. It is to be hoped that this gathering will be something more than a military pic-nie. A clergyman, .the Bev. Dr Beard, of Manchester, is engaged ou an " Auto iiiography of Satan," which will be pub jished next autumn, A gentleman writing recently from S n Francisco, states:—l have been -fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Pnilip Phillips, the well known ••' Singing Pilgrim." 1 went on Sunday to the Sunday Pavilion (a sort of temporary exhibition building) it was filled with a crowd o.f at least 4,000 scholars and teachers. The addresses were fervent and pleasing, but the singing of Mr Phillips was the great charm. I can only describe him by saying he is an orator in music. He preaches in song. He sits at a small harmonium, and when it suits him he breaks forth between the speeches into a melody which he deems fitting to deepen impression or arouse attention. Greater was his power by music than his rhetorical friends in spoken words. He has that rare gift for a singer—a tenor voice of great volume, and as notable for sweetness. He filled the vast hall with his notes, and hushed even the crowd of children into silence. He has given his whole attention to the ioipr.ove.ment of school singing, both by his books and his own example. There may be differences of taste as to the style of his compositions; but no one, on hearing him sing his songs himself, can deny his skill, or help liking the man.