The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-02
ANIMAL ECCENTaIClTiEs.
Some Strange and Startling Ways of
Animals, Birds, Insects and Reptiles.
From the Ne,o York. Sun

oome strange and Startling Ways of
Animals, Birds, Insects and Reptiles.
From the Neto York Sum
What curious ways animals and birds
insects and reptiles have! What strange,
what startling ways" exclaimed the profess
sor. THUS the woodcock feeding, punctur-
ing with his drill-like bill the moist margins
| of swampy places and the soft soil on bot
tom lands, prospecting for the plump and
| juicy worms that the birds infallble instinct
tells it are hiding there beneath the surface
Does the woodcock, finding the worm, seize
1t In his bill and drag it from its nest? How
could he! The hole he drills is cut the size
OF his bill. Can he possibly open it within
that snug fitting puncture to seize
the worm! Then, perhaps, he i'm
paIes the worm upon his
pointed beak, as you might spear an eel
Quite impossible also. for even the point of
his beak IS frequently larger than the worm
he covets; and suppose he should impale
| the worm2 What would hold iu on the beak
| as the woodcock drew it toward the surfaced
II the woodcock's bill was intended as a
spear to impale his prey, it would be harbed
like the wOodpeckers long and flexible
tongue. which he thrusts into the tree he
has tapped and transfxes the grub he has
| overtaken. No, the woodcock neither seizes
| his prey with his bill nor spears it. He
lures it forth by the exercise of strategy
| almost incredible. Worms that live in the
ground come to the surface when it rains,
and all observation proves that they hear tha
rain drops beating on their earthly roofs when
they first begin to fall, and that is the signal
for them to come forth. Why they came
| forth to drag themselves along over the
muddy soil leaving that familiar network
Of tortuous trail upon the ground one sees
| after every summer rain, am not pre-
pared to say. But come forth they do as
S Don as they hear the rain pattering above
them. No naturalist knows this better
than the woodcock does. Therefore the
wise bird bores hole after hole in his
feeding ground. Having done this he
dances about them and taps the ground with
his wings, initiating the sound of rain fall
ing upon it. Presently up come the worms
out of the holes placed SO conveniently for
their exit, and before they have time to see
what fine day it is and wonder what can
have fooled them 80, they find themselves
entombed in the woodcock's stomach, from
whose depths sound of rain, either real or
simulated, may call them nevermore. odd?
think so. And yet there are people who
don't believe this.
You know the muskrat-which, by the
way, isn't a rat at all, any more than the
beaver is. Everybody knows the muskrat,
but in all my experience l have found but
one man who know the most curious thing
Of all the curious things the muskrat is cap
able OF. This is bis capacity for getting his
second wind while swimming under the ice
and not only his second wind, but his
third and his fourth, aud his 15Jth, if nee
essary. A duck isn't a better swimmer than
the muskrat is, but a duck can stay under
water almost as long as the muskrat can,
for the muskrat's wind is only good for
swim Of 20J feet beneath the surface at the
most. Now, this busy animal has to do
great deal of swimming when the pond or
stream at the side of which he lives is frozen
over for miles and perfectly air tight. and
if r. wasn't for the way he has of utilizing
over and over again the supply of breath he
started in with the muskrat could be only a
summer animal His feeding grounds are
frequently very long distances away from
his abiding place. and can be reached only
by swimming. In his winter excursions
the mus6rat takes his breath at starting,
and remains under the wafer as long as he
can Then he rises up to the ice slowly ex-
hales his devitallzed breath, forming big
air bubble against the lower side OF the ice.
Kee ing his nose at the base OF this bubble,
the muskrat waits until the air in it has
been recharged with oxygen from the water
and the ice. and then inhales it again. This
operation is performed as often as is neces-
sarY, and if the muskras had to go thou
sand miles under the ice he could make the
Journey, as far as bre 4th is concerned, with
the same supply of air he began with.
You may not be aware OF the giant
worm known 10 rustic nomenclature as the
night walker. He might better be called
the night runner or the night glider, for
few creatures can be swifter than he. He
is of the family Familiarity known as the
angle worm, but, although you may know
that he is present belo Y the surface in your
garden, you will never find him by digging
for him. Although blind and without ears,
tie touch of the spade at the big round hole
in the ground that tells you he is below Is TO
him as an electric thrill, and before the
spade is driven an inch in the soil he will
hove threaded tne tortuous tunnels OF his
subterranean home aud be a dozen feet
away from the tell-tale shaft. He comes to
the surface only at Eight He chooses dark
ness rather than light, not because his
WAYS are evil, but because he is a true
lover, and night, especially moonLt
night, is his trysting time. He aptly DEM
onstrates the truthfulness of the quaint
Scotch poem on the universally of love,
wherein the poet says that cen cold earth
worms come up in swarms and underneath
the trees pay 8 Heet homage at the shrine or
Venus. You will never see the nightwalker
unless you are diplomatic. He may be
abroad in your garden by the score, but
foot ball even at its farthesu boundary Will
alarm him, and in an instant he will glide
to his su bterranean cover. Take lighted
lantern with you. Place it on the ground,
sit near it, and do not move. By and by,
al ways in pairs. you will see the nightwalker
come out Of the bordering shadows into the
arc of light described by the lanterns rays
upon the ground. He advances coyly at
first. but grows holder. Then such wrig-
vlings and contortions. such humpings and
fantastic tricks as you will see this curious
nightwalker do will cause you won
der and amusement. After awhile
YOU will see the nightwalker, always
In pairs, moving away with the
shadow again, and il sentiment influences
YOU. you will permit him to go; but II you
are there for business, you will instantly
gather him up and drop him into the tin
can you have come provided with. For it
is sad to know that the only folk who lie
thus in wait with lantern at the trysting
places of the nightwslker are those who are
seeking bait, aud the unsuspecting worm Is
torn from loves dalliance to become that
seductive lure for cells and catfish known in
rnstic lore as the bob, and in no other way
can he be induced to offer up his substance
as such, An average nightwalker and
mate will give you an aggregate foot OF In
comparable bait, which. strung from end
II