New, Odd & Interesting.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 721, 14 November 1914, Page 7

New, Odd & Interesting.

f No bird of prey has the gift of song. The smallest ImmrnJrg bird weighs 20 grains. Female frogs have no voice; on'y 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 c"n be pi-oduced from a bushel of sweet potatoes. The cabmen of Paris arc forbidden to smoko pipes while driving a fare. About 1,000 servanLs are attached to the Royal household of Great Britain. The world's navies number 2,201 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 longe than single men. In proportion to its size Belgium hrs more miles of railway than any other country in the world. 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 Montreit'! (France) are engaged in the manufac ture of dolls' heads. Snakes and other reptiles are the only animals which seem to be ableto exist without d:ink. 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 or-. dinary total weight carried by a British trooper's horse. In all our wars we have won the splendid average of 82 per cent, of the battles. This is the world's record. There are twenty-seven Royal families in Europe, two-thirds of which are of German origin. Chinese 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 the heaviest bird that flies, the young 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 as to be almost impenetrable. In Stockholm the stroot-car conductors sell hatpin protectors for a halfpenny, apiece to all women who wish to buy. Probably file simplest Court livery in the world is that worn in the Royal palace of Korea. The Emperor's servants are all dressed in garments and headgear of red calico. The nine points of the law are thus concisely given:—1, A good deal of money; 2, a good deal of patience; 3, a good cause ; 4, a' good lawyer; 5, a good counsel; 6, good witnesses; 7, a good jury; 8, a good judge; 9, good luck. It appears that there are people in Italy who derive a dismal satisfaction from being admitted to watch the process of cremation at the charge of 4s. a head, and that it is the revenue from this source that defrays the cost of cremating the poor folk The Royal crown of Roumania is made of bronze, the metal once having done service in the shape of cannons. Specimens of metal from 62 different guns, each captured from some enemy, are included in the make-up of this oddly-constructed Imperial insignia. In 1527 and 1523 Senor de la Serna made a survey of the Isthmus of Panama, having in mind a canal, and records extant in Madrid show that the work was done pretty thoroughly. At that time Charles the Fifth was Emperor, but he gave this scheme but