The Portland daily press., 1899-12-19
NATURAL HISTORY FACTS.
Curious Instincts Of Animals which
Puzzle che wisest Heads.

(From the st. Louis Globe -Democtat,)
Here IL q curious and little known fact
regarding iittsr-bearius animais-dogs,
wolves, the whole cat family, hogs, rab-
bits, and so on-each Of their young ap-
propriates to itself one particular teat-
and never By any chance sucks any
other. At first all the tsats are tumid
and full of milk. Within q week those
which do not suokls become dry and
small Thus glance at the mother
shows the number Of her young. The
effect Is often very curious. By this
process Of natural selection the big milk
giving tsats frequently alternate regular
~ with the dry onea
The wise men cay this 10 one Of natures
spt cisl provisions against Injustice.
Without 1t. among gresarious animals.
the strongest litter would plundsr, tram
pie and starve the weaker ones. Of
course, in.the Same family the pig or
puppy or kitten or cub which holds on
longest and SUCKS HARDEST gets the big
gsst snare Of the provision-but that is
another thing from going outside.
Very young lambs are ss like as peas
In pod to everything. except the noses
of their mothera A hundred ewes at
pasture with lambs Of the same size. will
make no mistake about their children
that is, II the children have once been
accepted as thsir own. Sometimes it hap
pens that for no visible reason eve re-
jects ho lamt, and cannot he induced to
own IL. II she has twins she may own
one and reject the other. A case In point
was that Of grade Of merino, which
brought forth at once big, bouncing
white lamb and q very scrawny black
atom. She would nos look ct the white
fellow, but lavishsd passionate devotion
upon the black one, to the great amaze
ment of the shepherd. He declared that
in forty years. experience he had seen
nothing like 1t though he had known
many cases In which black lambs were
promptly disowned.
Regular shepherds have Q trick by
which to fool the Jews nose. II new
born lamb diss they strip It Of its skin
and fasten the skin securely upon an
other lamb-one Of twins or 10 may be
triplets. Then for day or two they pen
the little creature along with the bereft
eve. In most cases she accepts u and
rears It. never knowing the difference,
but sometimes. as soon as the EXTRA skin
| is removed, she pushes 1t violentiy away,
and win have nothing more to do with
| IL.
Milk giving does not always depend
upon motherhood. A case In point was
| that OF barren mare, left ~ pasture
with q pair Of weanlings, about five
months old. Their mothers were out OF
sight and hearing, but after the first. two
days It was noticed that they appeared
| to be suspic,ously content. In week the
mare, their companion. began to lose
| flesh, her owner decided to INVESTIGATES.
A little watching showed that che went
through the form of suckling both colts.
| She was separated and kept twelve hours
f, in a stall. At the end nj that time milk
| was dripping fro N her udder. and she
was whining as restlessly for her adopted
children as though they were her own.
Almost the same thing happened to
heller alf, the pride Of q Tennessee COW
pen, where calves wers never weaned.
| but sucked as regularly IS milking time
came round, Two impish small black
boys. who had the JOB OF "keeping on
the calves" beguiled the tedium OF waits
by penning the heller calf In q fence
corner and pretending TO milk her into
broken gourd. They began 10 Ii june
when the creature was six months old.
BY October they had brought her to her
milk" 1t came in tiny stream, OF
course, but was milk unmistakable. Curl
ously enough the heller, which had every
mark Of turning out q valuable mixer Mt
maturity, proved almost worthless for
| the pail.
There are many odd aud interesting
| things to be said Of the quail, which Is
known throughout . large scope OF the
country MS the partridge. One Is that 1t
has the power, when badly frightened, of
Withholding It's scent. A covey, quickly
| flushed, will scatter and lie SO close the
| best dog In the world will overrun them.
making nose no sign Of point until the
| bird fiutters up right under foot. Anoth.
er Is that 1t has the faculty OF Stimulating
DEATH ( taken winged, In hand, and OF
| coming quickly to life the minute the
grasp Ia relaxed In the neighborhood OF
| good cover. Further, the birds have o
| sort of barometric sense.
A Woodsman marking the direction In
which quail feed can almost certainly
foretsll the days weather. II they choose
stubble or cornnelds 1t will be mild and
moist; II they &C to the open woods he
looks for wind and sun; II they scurry
for thickets of brier and sedge then he
knows bitter cold Is imminent. Unless
forced to emigrsts by lack Of food q covey
always sleeps within 100 yards OF the nest
1t was Matched Inland this, although IL
may have ted all day several miles away.
| The sleeping is dons In a huddled ring.
tails In. heads out, all around, and so
| closely punched that good-sized napkin
will cover II. Instinct possibly lies back
Of the ring making. Thus the shy GREAT
ures hope to escape surprise from Creep
| ing vermin, miuks, weasels. foxes. which
steal upon them In the night.
Quail ara Mormons Of the first water.
| In the mating season the strongest cooks
strut aud present themselves before ths
several wives. ruffling defanc, the while
| at the poor bachelor birds who flock BY
| themselves In diacon ISOLATE pairs and trios.
| The wives lay the eggs together. and take
turns In brooding them, a. does also the
head of the family. After the oovsy Is
full grown il turns In long, very keen
triangle like file Of geese, very much
exaggerated. They feed as they run,
hence 1t is easy to toll them into baited
coop. Oncs inside, they will turn wildly
around, flying against the bars and try
ing to thrust their heads between, with
no thought Of returning by the way thsy
| came.