Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-12-18
10 be contiaued.l
ENTERTAINING STORIES OF ANIMALS.

The baby elephant" which was such a
card for one of the circus companies last
season, now tips the scale at half ton,
and is growing too fast to continue a nov
city.
A large bird at Keokuk, Iowa, darted
swiftly downward in its fight recently,
and, striking ightning-rod, the iron ran
through it's body, and it remained impaled,
futtering and struggling.
A horse in Nevada, being sick with
colo, ended his suferings by deliberately
dashing out his brains against the stone
wall of the corral 1t was in Nevada, also,
that a pet dog recently committed suicide
by drowning.
In 1876, l,705 moles were destroyed in
| Greenwood Cemetery. In 1878, 7,IS6
GROUND mice, 81 cats, 80 dogs, l03 snakes
and III rats were destroyed. In 1879
3, l59 ground mice, 10 cats, 90 dogs. 30
moles, Ga snakes and SO rats were captured.
A fore. and ait schooner, while lying in a
harbor on the northern coast, in the alb
sence Of the crew, was boarded by rats in
such numbers that they ate away all her
standing rigging, including head.stays,
and also the jibs, foresail and mainsail.
All were destroyed beyond the possibility
of repair.
A snake two feet long had lively fight
with chipmunk on the banks of the Wal.
kin river The snake coiled around his
antagonist several times, but the little fell
low slipped out of the folds and turned
again, biting the snakes body. Soon the
snake was unable to crawl, and the chip
munk killed it.
A orI- Co,,a,,I
ny's works refuses to do service after the
bell sounds the hour of noon. If he Is
hosting load he deliberately allows it to
settle back. After feeding he allows HIM
self to be hitched up, but no amount Of
| coaxing or beating will induce him to work
until after the l o'clock whistle.
A farmer near Palestine, Ind, was water
ing nine cows at pump recently, when
they stampeded as fast as their legs would
carry them. Suddenly, though the sky
was clear, cyclone not more than twenty
feet in breadth descended, and striking
the earth near the pump, twisted off FIVE
large beech trees as though they had been
weeds.
Animal instinct of a very high order was
exhibited at the Bulldog ranch, Mr.. Piper
of Rapid City, was there with a fine pointer
dog. All hands were seated at the dinner
table, when all at once the dog went up to
his master and commenced whining. The
attention of the master was attracted to
the dog, and turning round asked him what
he wanted. The dog reached up and
dropped gold badge in his hand that he
had picked up somewhere. DIR. Meyer re-
cognized it as one that he had dropped
from his vest, but knew nothing of the loss
until the dog found it Deadwood (Da-
kota) Times.
A writer in the Naturalists' Magazine
says that he remembers seeing on post
near the Elephant and Castle Inn, at
which such multitude of coaches used to
stop, an inscription on Ralph, a raven OF
great celebrity, who bad been in his days
a distinguished member Of the Elephant
and Castle establishment. Those who
reeollected him gave several instances of
his ssgaeity, among Others. that Of his
knowled sc of an intimacy with several OF
the coachmen With his particular favor
ties and friends he would frequently take
short jaunts out on the coach top, until he
met some other coach, whose driver he
also knew, passing in homeward direc-
ton, when he would Immediately change
coaches and return.
The Newport Ne,cs tells tall cat story
One day last week cat in this town
caught small mouse, and while playing
with it afterward, as cats do. lying ON the
floor with its mouth wide open, the little
victim ran into the jaws of death, land
ing securely, wholesale, in the cats stom-
ach, where it lived for some time, giving
the cat no little annoyance, if the move
ments against the latter's side are any cri-
terion 20 judge by. The cat seemed fright
ened, too, for it went under the house, re-
I naming there for two days The circum-
stance was witnessed by the lady of the
family in which the cat lived and several
of her children.
A resident of ST. Thomas, Ont., is the
possessor of dog which has some remark
able instincts. On Sundays his peculiari-
ties and sectarian sentiments come out.
| Unlike the crow, ne can count. He is not
the same dog as on other days. He in
dulges in no pastimes, encourages no com
pany, and says, in actions louder than
words, :" Six days shalt thou play and do
all thy sport. F" The family are Presbyte-
rians, but the dog is a Methodist. On
| Sunday he attends the family to the Pres
byterian house of worship, and then holds
on his solitary and unbroken way to his
own church. He has peculiar place up
stairs, when he can manage to elude the
vigilance of the ushers and obtain ingress,
and he pays dogmatical attention to the
word of doctrine while at service.
/
Two boys and girls, the Oldest of whom
was under sixteen, planned to clope from
Ottawa. Canada, and get married this side
of the line. One OF the boys obtained $50
for his expenses, but the others financial
calculations failed, and at the last moment
he was compelled to withdraw from the
enterprise. His sweetheart, however.
could not give up the idea Of e,oping, and
so accompanied the more prosperous couple
! in their li1ht