Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-10-08
ANIMAL MOTHERS.


CarO q Their H0oug.
Ell dumb animal and inset mothers
have certain ways Of taking care Of their
babies, as well as our mothers Ito Of us,
and some Of their ways are very queer.
Al my grandmother's there was an
old cat that had ave kittens. which she
kept in the hay in the barn. One day
one Of the kittens went ont on n large
beam that extended from one eud If the
barn 10 the other, and when he reached
the middle Of il he began to b. afraid
and sat down on the beam. mcving
piteously. He was 50 far away from me
that I could not reach him, and ! did not
know how to get him down. Just then
the mother cat came mp and purrcd and
mewcd to him, telling him 90 wait I'M
til she came. She their went out to
where he was. and. as the beam was .
broad one, she went before him. picked
him mp in her mouth and carried him
back into the hay ont of danger.
One day l was mp in the attic. and I
found on the ceiling n paper wasp's
nest. / took il of and found that IL wac
empty. There were also several mud
wasps' nests. and upon opening some Of
them I found the grubs in n part Of
the nest ard the food, which was moth
ing but little worms and insects pack
ed together. in another part. I brought
the paper wasp's nest to my city home.
but not the mud nests.
The turtles do not take much care Of
their babies. They scoop n place in the
sand and Law their eggs and then cover
them up. The heat Of the sun matches
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 TO
reeds, cattails or some such plant. and
the warmth Of the sun matches them.
The eggs are i'm a cluster, and each one.
which looks like white jelly, is about
the size Of q small pea and has a little
round black spot in the center. I found
some nee and put them in . large glass
jar with water in il and set il in a
warm place. After several days each If
the little spots had q tail. and the jelly
like substance that had been around the
black spots to keep them from injury
began to disappear. ! found that they
had Matched and were pollywops. They
grew very fast. but never lived to change
into frogs. as they died before they were
half grown.
The potato bug lays its eggs on the
underside If u potato leaf, and when
b young are Matched they have the
leaves to eat. and the mother does not
have to take rare Of them. The eggs are
small and Of a bright yellow color. !
have seen a great many of them on orc
leaf.
Near my grandfather's there is a
creek, with willows growing or the
edge of il. One day I saw two kinyfsh.
ers on a limb Of one of the trees and the
mother bird sitting by the side Of them.
She was looking steadily into the water.
Suddenly she darted down into the
water and in q minute came up with q
fish. She took II to the little birds, and
after this she dived several times, as
though showing them how Ia catch fish.
Tho crabs have their homes under
large stones. This is the way I found
out: I once lifted a large stone, and aft.
er the water had become clear I looked
for q crab. / did not see any, but dis
covered a hole that seemed to 60 under
some smaller stones. Itook mp the small
er stones, but the hole seemed to 60 still
farther. As l was looking into il / saw
q big crab come out, followed by two
smaller ones. Then I knew that this is
tho way they live. philadelphia Times.