Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1896-09-12

Tho Queer Ways In which They Tai
Cara OF Their Young.
NEEDLES.

The Queer Wayu In which They Take
Cara OF Their Young.
al dumb animal and insect mothers
have certain ways Of taking care OF their
babies, as we'll as our mothers do Of Us.
and some of their ways are very queer
At my grandmother's there was an
old cat that had five kittens. which she
kept in the hay In the barn. One day
one Of the kittens went out on large |
beam that extended from one end of the
barn to the other, and when he reached |
the middle of it he began to be afraid |
and sat down on the beam, mewing |
piteously. He was so Ear away from me
that 1 could not reach him, and did not
know how to get him down Just then
the mother cat came mp and purred and
mewed TO him, telling him to wait un-
til she came. She then went out to
where he was, and, as the beam was
broad one. she went before him, picked
him up in her mouth and carried him
back into the hay out of danger.
One day was up in the attic, and
found ON the ceiling a paper wasp's
nest took 1t off and found that 1t was
empty. There were also several mud
> wasps' nests, and upon opening some OF
them found the grubs in one part OF
the nest and the food, which was moth
ing but little worms and insects pack-
, ed together. in another part brought
the paper wasp's nest to my city home,
s bat not the mud nests.
The turtles do not take much care OF
their babies- They scoop place In the
sand and lay their eggs and then cover
them up. The heat Of the sun matches
Z them. and the young turtles have to
take care of themselves.
: Frogs lay their eggs in some warm
place IN the water and fasten them &c
reeds, cattails or some such plant. and
the warmth of the sun matches them
The eggs are In a cluster. and each one
which looks like white jelly, is abou
h the size Of a small pea and has htti'
1t round black spot in the center. ] foun'
r. come once and put them in q large glas
Jar with water in it and set it in
s. warm place. After several days each o
u the little spots had tail, and the jelly
like substance that had been around tn
- black spots to keep them from injur
"a began TO disappear. found that the
Ie had Matched and were pollywogs- The.
IN grew very fast. but never lived to chang
l. into frogs, as they died before they weI
half grown.
The potato bug lays its eggs on tn
e underside Of potato leaf, and whe
ne the young are Matched they have ii
leaves TO eat, and the mother does nd
have to take care of them. The eggs al
small and OF a bright yellow color.
r. have seen a great many Of them on on
leaf.
n Near my grandfather's there is
Ills creek, with willows growing on ii
edge OF it. One day saw two 6ngfisl
ro ers ON a limb of one of the trees and Il
re- mother bird sitting by the side of Their
n She wSS looking steadily into the waite
sS Suddenly she darted down into &
20 water and in a minute came mp with
of fish She took it to the little birds, al
nO after this she dived several times,
though showing them how to catch fis
nj The crabs have their homes und
IN large stones. This is the way foul
Ien out once lifted large stone. and a.
o. err the water had become clear look
i LII for crab. did not see any, but d
II covered hole that seemed to go uno
some smaller stones. took up the sma
asst er stones but the hole seemed to go st
The farther. As was looking into it 81
for big crab come out, followed by t.
as smaller ones Then / knew that this
the way they hve.-Philadelphia Tim