New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-08-10
HOW THE BRUTE WORLD LIVES.


Portions Of this work have been from time to time
made public, and of those who read them as they
appeared periodically uncomfortable hummer
will wish TO possess the entire volume. One SCI
dom finds in fact, book on natural history 80
entertaining 20 fresh so untechnca, and, IN fpNe
of its special topic, varied. The divisions are plI
posely made according the natural rather than the
scientific order and embrace respectively with more OF
less overlapping the borrowers in earih wood and rock
those creatures whose nests pensle the builders 'he
subaquatc dweers the social architects the parasites
the branchbuilders and Others not easily eassho iAo
ouhor Is evidently man vcrscd in his subec, from eH-
ensiye reading large personal experience and OBSERVE
ton and familiar access TO the best collections His OBJ
oc has not been TO construct an elaborate "Brdgewaer
Treatise nor moralize in bis amblesamong the minor
wonders Of creation lie was naturalist before he was
CLERGYMAN whereas some have nsanced tho "seiisac-
mice of the female rabbit in stripping her breast Of hair
70 make bed for her young he sees only an instinct
doubtless more pleasuble than PAINFUL which she has
in common with the eder-duck and the godtail moh'
Il believe" he SAYS, that the lower animals are en-
dowcd with gifts extended than we generally sup
pose But we not Judge them by our own Standard
and instead Of eeya;ng them u our position, We should
try to lower ourselves TO theirs This, be rightly adds is
the only rational way in which TO train those animals
which are or may be domesiicated
Mr. Wood descriptions are lively and Of wclsustaned
interest e docs not conne himself TO details OF TINS
and that home without hands but introduces appfo
pirate remarks on tho characteristics of the inmate OF
the Mole he says what not accastomedto imagine:
The mole is more courageous than the Ion and ritlyey
speaking powerful and armed with weapons more
desracye. Magnify the mole e the SIZE Of re on ahe you
Though nearly blind and Therefore nchihpe OF iopeub
prey by sight it would be active beyond pon Suing
log this way and That way as u toes aIVg.ki ~ ~.
cover large am4an, Of space saP'Is sn ~n W 10 pSc IN
victim eating tho si warm and bleeding le'h ana Instantly
searching for fresh prey.
Seemingly there could be moro r!iculons AID tan
talizing peormance than to c1 cocoanuts to hungry
crab vet tho robbercrab of the Indian Ocean depends
upon this tropical fIult for his subsistence.
According TO Mr. Darwin the crab selves upon the fen
cocoanui and with It's pnccfs tears away the
QUEER covering reducing 70 20 mass Of ravecd hrcad ms
substance Is carried by the crabs into their holes for TIE n
pose forming bed Nhccon they can re- wAen they ehaFe
burrows u these fbeTs which ready picked for
them and when hss ysg r., c5sr he .eaT yes
making mats aud similar laIpose'. men ths eIso ,1s a
INTO one OF little holes which found - one end 81 he
cocoannl by turning the claw backward sAd in"ud a.
II 1t were brataW The crab coht'e 20 'eooP OH VIC VII
substance Of the nut.
The crab Of the Samoan islands ~ The West Pacific
even climbs the trees throws down the nuts husks them
below then actually carries them back and dops them m
they break
We know well that the shiPwoIm, or 'edo narai''
bores into timber with The greatest facility; but that
mousk should bore into the solid rock appears altogether
Incredible Ye, a species Of snail in Piclny Is believed
TO buow in this way couodng The rock by sort OF acid
secretion in its foot The Pboas OF flddooA employs ohy
mechanical means.
The shell Itself Is extremely fragile md Of rather son
texture and it, surface covered With ridges that
and bear some Tesem bnlcc to the npon DE- Yet
practical naars have proved that ~ means Of these ny
rock for not oly similar hole be bored BY usng The
she'll as il used 10 pierce WOOD bot The creature
.elf into the clsk rock feat which performed by gently
turning the shell from right to len and back again ne hc
n considerable Depth and piece ofhe rock
detached and broten 10 pieces by tue hammer II vi be
to be aG6 Ss me s hard %
formations peneabe by the Fragile shell OF the
Phoss.
or the Tailor bird Mr.. Wood says
The manner which constructs ts pensls meet IL very
singular Choosing convenient leaf generally which
hangs the end u slender wg Il perccs row ~ holes
along each edge using s esak IN Tie sane manner mat
lar each other IA shape though not 10 HieoL Tho holes
them that the bird seems TO have found special graca
ton in making them just hoy who has new knife makes
The holes are completed tho bird pocares s thread
which long fiber plant generally much longer than
Is needed task which II performs Having found s
thread feathered tailor begins through the holes
drawing the sides OF the leaf each ote so as TO form
single leaf used for this purpose but Whenever the bird
find that sufficiently large it sews two together
feches another leaf and asteas II with the hber
Within the hollow thus formed the bird next deposits guam
ty Of soft white down. IKE short cottonweo and thus con
visible among the LEAKAGE OF the tree and which Is safe from
almost every foe except man
The common Spider (which by the way, constructs ito
geometca network entirely BY tho sense Of touch and
therefore exactly the dark in the light seadieS t
web in windy weather by hanging to it weights Of some
sort in the following instance:
~ "a al nv
garden spider and which some two inches IN length
and thicker than an ordinary drawing pencil The spider
the suspcndng thread broken the latte oreaure i'm
medatey lowered itself to the ground attached
the web and hauled the piece OF wood amer
it, found this balance at distance from The
web and certainly must have dragged for distance OF hye
along the ground before reaching the t below the "sp
Among mounl-makng birds the Australia Jungle Fowl |
Is pieuous 1t always builds the some Of its
tumu being less than 10 feot in hight, and % feet in
diameter.
These heaps always placed under shelter and are some
times cnyeloped foliage that 10 spite OF their great sue
composed rather variable according 20 the iocay
but the general consists Of leaves grass and Other yege
and placed considerable depta Of them being
much ect from the top OF tho e"r Ihey axe
deposited curious the bird scratching sway INTO
tie heap laying an egg AID then bing upthe boe shs
makes her way out again.
The Bower bird alone builds for augh that the orni-
biologist discover, idly and aimessly, weaving an
archcd tunnel of twgs and adjoining it with scraps OF
ribbon, Shells bones broken glass, feathers and other
waste and using after all only rcndeTous or prome-
made.
The Tcmi,e or White Ant found in the interior of
South Afcl, makes nests fully 20 feet in hight These
are always Interesting objects, even nom The exterior ana
are welcome both 20 man and beast. l.
The walls hard that accustomed TO mount
pon them for the of looking out f game and the wild
pns, has similar habit the structure oeins s9Le enough