The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-07-14
A Very Crafty Fox Plays Dead
to Secure Transportation.
The Way That Tame Elephants Ensnars
Wild Ones and Place Them at the Mercy
Of Man Il Shabby Trick.

Inc grip Oh an ants JAW Is retained, even
| after the body has been bitten off and moth
Ing but the head remains. This knowledge
is possessed by certain tribe of Ihdians in
Brazil, who put the ants to very peculiar
use. When an Indian gets cash cut in his
hand, instead Of having his hand sewn to-
gether, as physicians do in this country, he
procures five or six large black snts, and.
holding their heads near the cash, they
bring their Jaws together in biting She flesh,
and thus pull the two sides Of the cash to-
gether. Then the Indian pinches of the
| bodies of the ants and leaves the heads
clinging to the flesh, which is held together
until the cash is perfectly healed.
A pair OF rats, happily situated and I'm dis
turbed, Will, in three years, have increased
to 656, sos. Calculating that ten rats eat as
| much In one day as man, which, we think,
is rather over Than under The fact, the con-
sumption Of these rats would be equal 10 that
| OF 65,6oO men the year round and leave eight
rats In the year to spare. Multiplying in
this rapid way, it Is providentiai that the rat
| has SO many natural enemies all these,
to the contrary Notwithstanding, he often
proves sufficiently troublesome to make the
| community cOnspire against him. In Ire
| land they SINCE the hair of rat which has
been caught. but is otherwise unharmed.
In Germany they let one loose with small
| bell attached TO his neck. The tnkling of
| this as the belled rat chaSes his friends pro-
duces panic among them and causes them
to lee the premises.
| THE BENGAL TIGER.
| Has more caurage than the lion, according
to Snowman, who states that the matter
was tested In this manner. I've placed
| shooting-cracker in the respective cages and
| fired the fuses. As soon as the fuses began
to burn they attracted the attention OF both
| animals, but in widely different man
ner. The lion drew into cerner and
| ..sit 1ist tF,,t
| and uneasy eye. The tiger, on the contrary,
| advanced to the burning fuse with n firm
step ana unfinchiDg gaze. On reaching the
cracker he took his paw and began to roll it
| over the floor, and when it exploded beneath
| his very nose he did not finch, but con-
tinued his examination until perfectly salts
| ned. The lion betrayed great fr8r when he
heard the report of tie explosion, and for
quite time could not be coaxed out of his
| den."
A curious communication has been made
to Academic de Medicine" by al. Motais
| OF Anglers, whose works on tie various
diseases OF the eye are highly esteemed. He
| has closely examined the effect Of captivity
| on the sight OF wild beasts, such as lions,
| tigers, etc., and asserts that all animals in
| savage state are far-sighted The same re-
| mark applies to man in an unciViiZed state,
and even 10 those who, though civilized, tol-
low avocatiOns which oblge them to remain
| constantly in the open air, such as sailors
| subsists in Gagged animals, when they have
| been taken after the age of = or months:
but when born in captivity or kept
| in cages when very young, they become near
| sighted, which NJ. MotalS attributes to the
narrow space in which they aie confined,
| and the training which obliges them to fol-
/ low the eye of the keeper or traiuer to obey
his will. The near-sightedless of school
children may. In his opinion. DE ascribed to
| the same cause.-the habit of concentrating
| the sight on one point and the fact that the
! power of the visual organ becomes modified
according to the requirements to which it is
| subjected.
Many stories told of the crafty fox are
| doubtless incidents of the Imagination. But
| a recent writer tells an aneedote which,
| though taxing belief, he says is pouched for
| by an eyewitness of the affair. Some
| fishermen on the west coast of ireland were
| in the habit of going to a small island, a
few hundred yards from the mainland. in
quest of bait. The island was inhabited by
LARGE NUMBER OF RABBITS,
| And could be reached at low tide by wad-
| ing, the water there being only few inches
| deep. One morning they went in their
boat quite early, it being high tide, and
| on landing saw dead fox lying on the
beach. The fur of the animal was all be-
| dragged, and ne seemed to have been
| drowned. One OF the men, ren,arking that
his skin was worth something, pitched him
| into the boat. Procuring their bait, they
|
who had possessed himself of the fox
seized him by the tail and flung him
| on shore. AS soon as the animal struck the
beach he picked himself up with consider
able agility for dead fox, and shot off like
| fasn up among the cliffs, while the men
stood staring at each other in mute astonish-
| ment. The men concluded that he had
| crossed over to the island during the night,
| when the tide was low, in search of rabbits,
and, finding in the morning thas he was cut
1 N n in innd ,tnrf lid
with the expectation of thereby procuring a
| passage to the shore in boat, an expecta-
ton which was fully realized
The Rev. j. Murray, in his work on the
creation, relates that on one occasion an
| acquaintance of his was out shooting wild
| ducks. On reaching a bend os the stream
| he saw six wild geese out Of range He
crouched down in the hope thaa they would
| presently come nearer. Whiis thus con-
| cealed lie observed a fox stealing down To
the bank, on reaching which he remained
| mOtionless, with his eye fixed TN the geese
| At length he retired, but presently reaD-
] peared carrying in his mouth q very large
bundle of moss. He entered the water 81
| lentiy. sank himself, and then, keeping
| the moss above the water, himself con-
| cealed, he fi0ated among the geese Sud
| denly one OF them was drawn under The
I water, and the fox soon appeared on the
bank with the goose on his back. Close to
| the waters edge be found a hole, caused bv
| the upr0oting of tree. THIS hole he
cleared out and enlarged placed the goose
at the bottom of it and covered his prize
| with leaves and dry litter, of which there
| was abundance close at hand. The fox then
! took his departure, and the interested
watcher went TO the hole and removed the
| COOS, taking care to restore things
| TO THEIR FORMER APPEARANCE.
| Then he resolved TO observe " hat followed
| In about half an hour the fox returned in
company with another. They went straight
to the place where the goose had been
| buried and removed the earth. No goose
there. They stood looking at each other for
| some time, and then suddenly the second
fox attacked the other most furiously, AZ
though enraged by having trick played on
| him.
Inthe Island of Ceylon the people are very
fond Of elephant-hunting They begin by
| clearing an open space near forest. part Of
which is strongly fenced in with trunks of
trees, with open places for doors. This is
| called corral When so much of the wor;
is done the natives get behind and around the
elephants with blazing torches, shaking
| spears and rafting all kinds of noisy
| instruments In order to brighten the
huge animals. while all the time driving
! them toward the open doors 81 the corral.
At last, with a rush, the great herd enter.
| the entrances are barred and the poor giants
| OF the woods find themselves hopelessly i'm
prlsoned. An elephants rage is dreadful
| to Witness but the ingenuity of man has
| found way OF snbduing it, One by one
each prisoner is freed again, and tame
elephants, remarkable for their sagacity.
come up TO him, stroke him with their
trunks and otherwise cajole him until they
lead him on to a good, strong tree. The
! natives creep up behind, and in minute
a rope with a running knot is round the
elephants leg and made fast TO tree. All
the time this is going on the tame elephants
are humoring their deluded victim, but as
! soon as he is secured they 10 away and
leave him, which is shabby trick.
Then the men bring him nice socoanuts and
leaves to eat, which, of course, he refuses,
| as he is again in great passion and strug-
Cling to be free. But hunger subdues even
the fiercest, and at last his wild roaring