Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Aue greater pdIb Va sNN
pitch dark.
The raven has been taught to retrie's
most creditably.
An instance Is on record Of q pigeon
Tying Z3 miles in II minutes.
1t is estimated that $50, O00,0 900 will be
expended in Western Washington during sns
next TWO years in railroad construction.
1t is said that in the northern lakes OF
England the loon has been taken 40 feet under
water upon hooks baited for the large lake
trout.
I'm ireland, before st. Patrick intro
duced Christianity, there was a temple at Tara,
where IRE burned ever, and was on no account
suffered to go out.
The best speed of railway train is only
little more than half the velocity of the
golden eagle, the flight of which often atrains
to the rate Of 40 miles an hour.
of all birds, the condor mounts highest
into the atmosphere. Humboldt describes the
fight of this bird in the Andes TO be at least
70, 900 feet above the level of the sea-
The Duke of Beaufort upou one occa-
sion picked up a brace of grouse which had
canoned and killed each other in midair, and
collidIng is not an infrequent occurrence.
The submarine war-boat has led to the
flying of balloons from war-ships. balloon
lowering over a ship can detect every move
ment Of a submarine boat coming TO the at
tack.
Among the legends Of the early Celtic
saints nothing is more common than the story
of the SAINT being sent to borrow fire, and car
rying it in his lap without the fire injuring his
garment.
According to superstition corpse-candles
are no other than human souls dancing over the
graves where their bodies lie or the souls of
dead relatives coming to fetch those who are to
rejoin them.
Every year layer of the entire sea, IA
feet thick, Is taken up into the clouds. The
winds bear their burden into the land and the
water comes down in rain upon the nelds, 20
How back through rivers.
"A magnificent specimen of the white
pelican shot few days ago at sea of
Whitstable, England. This bird is native OF
Africa and India, and is also found in the
southern provinces of Eastern Europe.
The French are endeavoring to train
swallows, the Germans pigeons, and the Rus
SLAMS falcons Whether the falcons are them
| selves to convey messages, or are to be used to
cut down the swallows and pigeons while SO
| engaged, is not stated.
In Paris the simplest form of embalm-
! ing costs usually about 500 francs. but should
autopsy have been performed, OF death occur
ring through other than natural causes, much
| heavier sum would be incurred. rising in some
| cases to as much as 5000 francs.
The surface of the sea is alive with vast
swarms of minute organisms, both plants and
animals, and the challenger" Investigations
| have shown conclusively that showers of these
| keep dropping day and night like constant
rain toward the ooze of the bottom.
| Upon one occasion a falcon was observed
to cut a sn1pe right in two, with such strength
and speed did it cut down its prey. Sparrow
| hawks and merlins have not infrequently been
/ IhTOuOn
| windows when in pursuit OF prey, or at Gagged
| birds.
The wings of fly are used with great
| qu1cknesS, and probably 900 strokes are made
per second. This would carry the fly about %
| feet but q sevenfold velocity can easily be at
| tanned. making l75 feet per second, that un-
der certain circumstances 1t can outstriP arace-
| horse.
The enormous appetite of the giant
penguin (Which weighs about so poundsJ may
have something to do with its restricted powers
| of aighr. and in the stomach of one of these
| Ross found 10 pounds of quartz, grauite, and
| trap fragments, swallowed most likely to pro-
| mote digestion.
The cost of grave in the Paris ceme-
teries is uniform, and has been raised of late to
| f29; this, of course, is in perpetuity. At most
| of the cemeteries ground can be rented for five
years at a charge of so francs for the term, and
| can generally be renewed at the end of this
period for at least a second term
"A monument is to be erected by the
| State of Minnesota, to commemorate the bat
| ties and incidents of the Sioux Indian War Of
| 1862, and especially as they relate to the town
| of New Ulm in that State. The burning of the
| town and the massacre of the whites are to be
| shown in two elaborate bas-rellefS.
-''Boston cockles," which are famous
over q very large area of England, are
gathered from the sands, parboiled, shelled,
and in this half-cooked condition are sent by
| railway in bags, chiefly to Bristol and the west
| of England at large, where they are sold and
consumed as delicacIes by the masses.
The stupendous monuments upon the
plain of Memphis and the mountains made
with hands" upon that of Cholula seem like the
| two ends of a chain of human thought and in
| tent, of which the connecting links are to be
| found throughout Tarrary, the Eastern Penin-
| sula, China, Japan, and the isles of the North
| ern Pacific.
1t is believed that there is no reason why
African elephants should not be tanned and
trained to the service of man. The Cartha-
| genian army of Hannibal possessed some ele-
| plants, but they may have been imported by
| the PhRnicians from Ceylon. The natives Of
| Africa nowhere care for capturing and domes-
| ticating wild animals
In Cyciopean remains in the Pacific
| there is recognized two distinguishing features
| the terrace foundations of dwellings consist
| with the style still adhered to by Buddhist peo-
| pie, and the truncated pyramid of successive
| steps, containing caves or chambers designed
for interment or for the celebration or religious
| mysteries.
Down to the depth Of 200 fathoms,
| where daylight disappears, the eyes of fish
get constantly bigger and bigger. Beyond that
! depth small-eyed forms set in, with long feelers
| developed to supplement the eyes. Sight, in
| fact Is here beginning to atrophy In the
| greatest ADVISES the fish are mostly blind feel
| ing their way about entirely by their sensitive
| bodies alone over the naked surface Of rock at
| the bottom.
| A pigeon-fancier of Hamme, in West
phalia, made a wager that dozen bees liberated
| three miles from their hive would reach it in
| better time than a dozen pigeons would reach
| their cot from the same distance. The COM
| petitors were given wing at Rhynhern, a viii
| iage nearly league from Hamme, and the
| first bee finished quarter of a minute in ad-
| vance of the first pigeon, three other bees
reached the goal before the second pigeon, the
| main body of both detachments finishing
almost simultaneously an instant or two later.
FUN AND FANCY.