Wichita eagle., 1889-02-28

z
to strike tree sometimes in the forest OF
singular beauty, and adorned with flowers.
What new thing is thisp l would say, and
would 90 back in my mind to my studies on
botany.
GAN at once would see its flowers disap-
pear, and little bird sat or suddenly
skipped away from where the flower was.
ain Arizona are the queer, fascinating
snakes that capture the birds again. ms
peculiar Arizona rattlesnake Is about four
feet long, and Enthusiastically mottled and
dappled in bluish-brown and yellow. He
has an eve so singularly bright and glitter
ing that it looks like fire. Once a bird
catches glance of that eye ne is powerless
to get away. He flies backward and forward
see-saw style before the rattler, each time
getting a little lower, until finally he is
swiped in and gulped down. The glare Of
the snakes eyes as he draws the poor bird
nearer and nearer to him, as by spell, is
utterly devlIish. There is no other sight
like it on this broad earth, and I almost
shudder at the power Of the reptile when l
see 1t myself.
"The little wild mice of Southern Cali
pirate the nests Of birds which have been
made in the cpimtia cactus have gone
up to some of the nests and thrust my stick
in, when out would come the old mouse,
with half dozen young ones holding on
with their mouths to her body In various
places, and run down the trunk Of the cac-
tus. Now, it is one Of the marvels how they
do this, for the opimtia cactus has double
Nov ly3y Of oira ,oY,f fyofy
yet the old mice and her young get down
without getting barb stuck into them.
They have got onto the secret somehow.
"Down in Nicaragua, where l was year
or two ago, / found a hitherto unknown kind
of ant, about three-fourths of an inch to an
inch in size, called the leaf ant, that is one
of the oldest things in nature. In Caesars S
history of the war with the Gauls you re-
member that it was recounted as trick OF
the soldiers whose ranks were light, when
they were advancing at a distance for an
engagement, for each man to grab a bough,
and thus make but few men look like .
vast army. Well, these ants while at work
always carry leaf, so that squad OF them
looks like little army with banners; and
they file up one side of path about foot
wide, and may be scores Of feet long, while
store-house take the other side, and have no
banners at all. Everything moves along just
like clockwork. There are the commanding
officers, ,lieutenauts, and every thing just like
skilled soldiery. Pm blest if / don't think
some of our West Pointers who have been
hunting Apaches might get a few pointers
from them.
SIN Sinaloa there are gigantic wasps that
~ In 4ho;v
a way of imparting a deathly sting to
the poisonous tarantula that mummlfes or
preserves it at the same time. When they
are stung and deadened the wasps drag
them off to their holes in the sandhills and
insert their eggs in them, and when the
young wasps are born they feed on the tar
antula. Strange to say, while the poison OF
the wasp kills the tarantula, it blends with
the poison of the tarantula, producing just
the feed most nutritious and necessary for
the young wasps.
"The lizards about Ell Paso are study.
The queer lizards am going to speak of are
found all over Texas, but they are thickest
just north of El Paso. They belong to the
swift family, and go SO fast you can hardly
see them. They are about foot long, and
they fight like the very Old Nick. Last
summer l saw terrible fight between two
big ones, which lasted over half an hour.
They kicked up the dust fearfully. That's
how you know where they are. One Of
these lizards in that battle had his tail bit
off, but he finally won, and left his adver-
sary writhlng in death. A strange thing
about a lizard is that if he loses his tail it
will grow on again, but if man loses his
leg he has to go through life with but one.
1t is only the stump-tailed lizards that are
poisonous. The Mexicans are very super
stitious about all Of them, and think it is
sure death if a man happens to kill one.
"a centipede is afraid of a tarantula,
and when he lies down TO sleep he always
takes the precaution to build cactus fence
about him. A tarantula will never crawl
over cactus, and, thus securely hedged in
his own corral, the centipede knows he may
sleep as long as he wants to, and his enemy
can't get at him. 1t is laughable out on the
Mohave desert to watch the security of
these centipedes as they lie and sleep, while
their arch enemies, the tarantulas, are
looking over the garden wall, so to speak,
trying to get at them. I have seen the
tarantulas nose around for hours before
giving it up. But the cactus is sure bar
rier. When once they become satisfied
there is complete barrier they go away
and cease to thirst for the gore Of the cent?
pede. The latter, however, always takes
careful look around before he removes the
cactus and ventures forth"