The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1864-08-24

The aforementioned rodenttd increase in
a tremendous ratio in the settled parts
of the State, where the cultiyators and
herdsrnen have thinned OF their natural
deStroyers-the bears, lions, coyotes,
eats, skunks, ferrets, hawks, owls. and
snakes Every green crop Is attacked
by the squirrel, and they are terrible on
all eggs and young chickens this year,
and very wasteful where grain and hay
are stored.
4 tired citizen wandering in the
country a few days ago, tells Us that he
came across mustard field in blossom,
where he sat down for hours admiring
the hundreds-the syarms of humming-
birds, hunting up musketoes and aphtds,
flashing in and out and filling their
croys to depletion among the fragrant
flowers Of the beef-eater' continent, by
the way, makes the best of honey pasture
for the busy bee in California.
Bears and lions have made great
havoc among the cattle and horses, as
their food of oats and wild fruits is
every where scarce this season. As the
former arc thick in the mountain pastures
where the stock animals have been re
Gently taken, which have to be accus-
toned and acclimatei to their new
ranges, great numbers have been lost;
and it is feared that the sheep in thous-
ands viii soon fall a prey to these enc
mics. if not to regular Nostalgia, before
they can be thinned Off by December
next.
Ants, flies, musketoes, and tarantulas,
with ali sorts Of wCasels and bugs, invest
the air and the water in vicinities where
they were very seldom known before, and
are becoming excessively troublesome.
Geese and ducks have been multitude
onu-ly abundant and familiar this year
They have effected much damage III
localities where the young grass is first
seen and longest preserved, and nave
done great injury to young grain.
Crows, ravens. and rocks are as thick
as musketoes near willow swamps, and n
bigger set Of thieving rascals never way
laid the good things of the farmer or
orchardist, and the black Williams now
turn up their noses ut worms and cater
pliers.
Hundreds of hives of bees, in lazy,
neglectful or ignorant hands, have de
serted to the forests or been starved out
rs their fowery pastures dried up early
in February; and even among expericn-
ccd apiarists they viii do very bad, by and
occasion unusual expense and labor
canaries, of rainbow colors, and in
digcnous to the country, of which there
are over twenty five species, the most
Of which carol delightful notes, and well
worthy the arts OF the bird fancicr, are
extremely familiar and plentiful near
houses, and in the neighborhood Of
spring, and water pools. The social
blacIlbird, or chcnate of California, in
Catering, surgine, fife nosing focLs, is
seen in sections Of cultivated lands or
the neighborhool of swamps, often in
such clouds and swarms rs to seem
myriads. The house martin was curtailed
Of the usual ratIons OF muo for his
for his abode nest, and IS very scarce
generally; bat the bluecoatS swat
low has made up for its absence,
and fills the air near sunset, cramino his
crop with musketoes and such vermin
as most infest the heavy atmosphere Of
the declining day.
The velvet, mouse -colored mole, with
out eyes and with very small teeth, is
death on garden SARGE Hoot owls,
or ta[Iytees make awful music, and bar
room too loo lloos in the groves near by.
looking after toads, frogs, and birds, and
the little ground owl, fellowcitizens il
the burrows with squirrels and snakes.
he ground owl Is very SpltlfuI this hot
year. lie is seen skimming and securing
near to earth, over the plains and hills,
hunting up his little bugs, beetles, mice
and small frogs IIeis quick, choleric,
nervous, eXcitable lite fellow, this Cali
fornia ground owl, the dimensions of a
pigeon and gray as a badger. And
badgers and po-sums are unwontcdly
familiar i'll places where they had not
been seen before IN years, and with
skunks unusually plentiful, smelling not
sweet but loud, they make havoc on eggs
and chickens, and, thank Heaven. SPUR
rels and gophers they scatter some.
And we are reminded here that Don
Coyote. mighty sly and greedy fellow,
has made his teeth tell on many a fat
young wcther and calveling not out of the
months, and which the herdsman had
taken his best care of as most likely
to live and make up some of his losses.
As to tame animals. it isnow undoubted-
II well known throughout the State for
1864 that no calying, foaling, or
lambing is worth a pound of salt
The mothers have no milk and the
young must die-.Sun Francisco Bulletin.