Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-04-05
TORRENTS OF TEXAS.
The MocKiNe-BlRD AND ITs cApAc-
ITY TO MAKE THINGS HUMP

The Voice of the Chacalaka--His whole
Souled Efforts to Make Notes.-The
Large and SociabIc Red Ant-rhe Ia
r~antula, Centipede and Scorpion.
Then we have the fog-whistle locust. He
is about seven times as large as a grass
hopper, and makes nine times the noise OF
a planing-mill. During the day he hides,
probably to oil up his machinery, but at
dusk he gets in a tree overhead and lets
loose with a s~uddenness and violence to
make your teeth chatter. IL you have
been on a tugboat New Years eve, you
will know the effect produced by this
pleasing insect when he tunes up and
breaks into song. After hearing him once
YOU will think O saw-filing machine O
music-box. He sings steadily for five hours,
and at midnight precisely lets off an extra
whoop to let you know he is through, and
instantly becomes silent, and probably
goes to bed with the proud consciousness
OF having lone his duty. Meantime you
have found it impossible to close your
eyes, but now you hum a sTe Deum" and
| settle down comfortably. Then the mock
ing-bird begins.
"LIsTEN TO II MoCKING-BRD."
Did you ever reside next door to a family
! depraved enough to keep a mocking-birdi
If so, how long7 If quite long, may | ask
how many of your family are in the luna
tic asylum, in Jail for homicide, or i'll the
cold grave? A m~ocking-bird has a happy
knack of whistling in a minor key at hours
| when ever the most hardened parrot will
tuck his head under his wing and give the
family a rest. 1t is precisely when you
- - x.-al 49,. i. +l.k H. ,1.1n1-
ing bird considers it his duty to brace up
and make things hum. think this is be-
cause he has a bad conscience and is afraid
of the dark, and so whistles to keep his
courage up
In the etfete north a man pays $50 for a
good mocking-bird, and then proceeds to
%depopulate the neighborhood by hanging it
out the window where it can keep the
whole block awake during the entire sum
mer. Then having killed off the adjacent
residents by chronic insomnia, he is en-.
abled to buy their property at ridiculous
rates, and so reimburse himself for his
outrageous expenditures on the bird. ]
have no doubt if you inquire into the pri.
vate history Of some of your real estate
kings, you will find they got their start by
using a m~ocking-hird.
There, however, the high price of mock.
ing-birds is a natural check to this species
of villainy, but here they grow for nothing.
The woods are full of them, and their con.
cert begins exactly where that of the fog.
whistle locust ends.
Well, after five hours of exasperatine
chirps and shrieks, in which if he mocks
anything he mocks a man rasping a pane
of glass with a rusty nail, and gives 8
good imitation, the mocking-bird per.
ceives it is dawn, and knows that it is
high time for all scoundrels to go to bed.
So he shuts up with a snap, and skirm.
ishes around for such early worms as he
thinks necessary. AT this time it might
be possible for you to sleep awhile if il
were not for the chacalakas.
THE VOICE OF q C~HACALAKA.
You don't know what a chacalaka is? a
chacalaka is a long-tailed bird that infests
this region, and is supposed to be a species
of pheasant. He wakes up about dawn
and Immediately proceeds to aeauaint Vol
with the fact that he has avoice like a cross
between that of a guinea hen and a pea
cock. You know how yociferous a hen il
when she has just laid an egg, and wants
to draw attention to it? Well, that is the
way a chacalaka behaves when he wakes
up and is ready for business. You would
naturally think he would busy himself
getting breakfast, and postpone the riot
VI fuss until later, but such.is not tn,
case, for from daybreak until the sun is al
hour high every chacalaka i'll this region il
throwing his whole soul into an effort tx
make more noise than a restaurant niggel
with q gong. He goes in hocks of UNTOLD
numbers: and there are, I fancy, about ter
flocks to the square mile. They say that
If the underground Of cactus would onl,
allow a man to go hunting, he would fine
the chacalaka quite good to eat. Fan
glad he is good for something. Do yor
happen to know what a steam calliope il
good for?
In enumerating the blessings of this eli
mate, | have not mentioned the large ant
sociable red ants, northe tarantulas, which
come into the household with every log O
wood; nor the ticks nor the centipedes
which drop at unexpected moments from
the ceiling and wriggle in your soup: no,
the various kinds of flies, whose employ
ment is to tickle you during the day; no.
small scorpions, which make it lively fol
you at all times. I have not mentioned
the mildew, which steals upon your boot.
by night and paints them a lively greer
before morning, nor have I spoken of al
improved breed of mosquitoes, capable O
boring with great ease through five thick
nesses of cloth. Neither have I alluded tx
the sandfiea in his glory, nor to the festiy,
and ubiquitous clinch.-Cor. Brooklyn
Eagle.